Overview:

This deck focuses on lifegain synergies to fuel Bilbo, Birthday Celebrant's game-ending ability while utilizing incremental value from creatures and enchantments. The primary win conditions involve reaching 111 life for Bilbo's activation, draining opponents with Sanguine Bond effects, or winning via Test of Endurance/Felidar Sovereign. It features moderate interaction and recursion but lacks infinite combos or fast mana.

Primer:

Core Strategy:
The deck operates in three phases:

1. Lifegain Setup: Play 1-3 mana enablers like Soul Warden and Essence Warden to trigger lifegain on creature ETBs.
2. Value Scaling: Use payoffs like Heliod, Sun-Crowned, Dina, Soul Steeper, and Karlov of the Ghost Council to convert life into threats.
3. Win Conversion: Either:
   • Activate Bilbo's ability post-111 life to tutor all creatures
   • Drain opponents with Vito, Thorn of the Dusk Rose/Sanguine Bond
   • Win instantly via Test of Endurance

Mulligan Priorities:

• Keep hands with 3 lands and 1-2 lifegain engines (e.g., Auriok Champion + Prosperous Innkeeper)
• Prioritize early ramp (Farseek, Sol Ring) if lacking lifegain triggers
• Avoid hands without lifegain sources or excessive high-cost cards

Key Tips:

• Protect Bilbo with Lightning Greaves and Sheltered by Ghosts once approaching critical life totals
• Use Eerie Ultimatum to recover from board wipes
• Debt to the Deathless can be a surprise finisher with sufficient mana

Weaknesses:

Critical

• Dies to lifegain prevention (Tainted Remedy, Erebos, God of the Dead)
• No win conditions if Bilbo is exiled/too expensive to recast

Moderate

• Slow recovery from board wipes (only 3 sweepers)
• Limited redundancy for key effects (only 2 "Test of Endurance" effects)

Minor

• Vulnerable to fast aggro before lifegain scales
• Moderate mana base enters tapped frequently

Most Important Cards:

• Sanguine Bond
• Test of Endurance
• Heliod, Sun-Crowned
• Vito, Thorn of the Dusk Rose
• Felidar Sovereign
• Dina, Soul Steeper
• Blood Artist
• Auriok Champion
• Bastion of Remembrance
• Debt to the Deathless

Attribute Ratings:

Speed: 4/10
Theoretical T8-10 wins via Test of Endurance or scaled drain effects; Bilbo activation requires significant setup.

Resilience: 3/10
Relies on commander and key enchantments; limited protection/recursion beyond Eerie Ultimatum.

Consistency: 5/10
Moderate card draw (Beast Whisperer, Mangara) and 3 tutors, but lacks redundancy for critical pieces.

Interaction: 4/10
8 targeted removals (Swords to Plowshares, Anguished Unmaking) but minimal counterspells or stax.

Rating Justification:

This is a synergistic lifegain deck with clear win conditions but slow scaling and commander dependency, aligning with Casual/Precon benchmarks.

Power level: 4.0 - 4.5