Gain and drain by user5540525

Format: Commander

Commander: Liesa, Shroud of Dusk

Bracket: 3

Deck overview

This is a classic Orzhov lifegain deck helmed by Liesa, Shroud of Dusk, built around the "drain" archetype: every life gain triggers a cascade of life loss for opponents. The primary game plan is to establish a life-gain engine (through creatures with lifelink, extort, or Exquisite Blood), then pair it with a payoff like Sanguine Bond, Vito, Thorn of the Dusk Rose, or Marauding Blight-Priest to convert each point of life gained into direct damage. The deck also includes alternative win conditions like Felidar Sovereign and Test of Endurance for a life-total threshold victory. The commander acts as a repeated tax on opponents' spells and provides a resilient flying lifelink body. The strategy is slow and grindy, relying on incremental life swings and the eventual assembly of a two-card combo to close out the game.

Decklist (100 cards)

• 1 Ajani's Pridemate
• 1 Astarion, the Decadent
• 1 Battle Mastery
• 1 Blighted Steppe
• 1 Blind Obedience
• 1 Blood Artist
• 1 Blood Seeker
• 1 Blood Tribute
• 1 Bloodbond Vampire
• 1 Bojuka Bog
• 1 Cliffhaven Vampire
• 1 Command Tower
• 1 Congregate
• 1 Cruel Celebrant
• 1 Crypt Incursion
• 1 Deadly Tempest
• 1 Debt to the Deathless
• 1 Defiant Bloodlord
• 1 Demon's Horn
• 1 Desolate Mire
• 1 Diabolic Tutor
• 1 Divine Congregation
• 1 Divine Offering
• 1 Drana's Emissary
• 1 Elas il-Kor, Sadistic Pilgrim
• 1 Evolving Wilds
• 1 Exquisite Blood
• 1 Exsanguinate
• 1 Felidar Sovereign
• 1 Fumigate
• 1 Gift of Orzhova
• 1 Gifted Aetherborn
• 1 Hallow
• 1 Isolation Cell
• 1 Kambal, Consul of Allocation
• 1 Karlov of the Ghost Council
• 1 Leechridden Swamp
• 1 Liesa, Forgotten Archangel
• 1 Liesa, Shroud of Dusk
• 1 Marauding Blight-Priest
• 1 Midnight Snack
• 1 Mindcrank
• 1 Norn's Annex
• 1 Obzedat, Ghost Council
• 1 Oketra's Last Mercy
• 1 Orzhov Basilica
• 1 Orzhov Cluestone
• 1 Orzhov Guildgate
• 1 Orzhov Keyrune
• 1 Paradise Plume
• 1 Path of Ancestry
• 12 Plains
• 1 Pontiff of Blight
• 1 Pristine Talisman
• 1 Profane Memento
• 1 Rhox Faithmender
• 1 Riot Control
• 1 Rune-Tail, Kitsune Ascendant // Rune-Tail's Essence
• 1 Sanguine Bond
• 1 Scion of the Swarm
• 1 Scoured Barrens
• 1 Sol Ring
• 1 Solemn Offering
• 1 Soulmender
• 1 Spirit Link
• 1 Sunbond
• 1 Suture Priest
• 11 Swamp
• 1 Tainted Field
• 1 Test of Endurance
• 1 Tithe Drinker
• 1 Umbilicus
• 1 Vampire Nighthawk
• 1 Vampiric Link
• 1 Vault of the Archangel
• 1 Vito, Thorn of the Dusk Rose
• 1 Vizkopa Guildmage
• 1 War Report
• 1 Zulaport Cutthroat