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User @desionnach sent a message to me asking for a look at the lifegain strategy and specifically the card Archangel of Thune from Magic 2014. Seems like a decent request, so let’s have a look.
With reasonable stats as well as flying and lifelink, Archangel of Thune is a decent attacker for five mana. These abilities put it above the vanilla test but it’s not quite as physically intimidating as other five-drop White fliers. The Archangel’s biggest standout claim, though, is the triggered ability that puts a +1/+1 counter on each creature you control every time you gain life for any reason.
Lifegain-centric strategies are harder to pull off in Commander because of the Commander Damage rule, but there’s been an increase in non-combative Commanders of late and most playgroups have a decent number of decks where the Commander is used more for its abilities than its potential to smash. I’ve always said that gaining life is only truly beneficial when there’s a way to utilize that life for something -- when the life you gain is a resource you can pull from. With cards like the Archangel, though, it’s not the life itself that’s the benefit so much as the act of gaining it. Archangel of Thune doesn’t care how much life you have or the amount of life you gained, it just wants you to actually do something that gains so it can help you push harder.
I think the reason why I like Archangel of Thune as a card is that it’s a perfectly closed loop on its own that also benefits from additional cards. The Archangel has lifelink itself, so it can trigger its own ability just fine, but adding some additional ways to get that ability triggering causes the card to gain value on an upward curve.
The Archangel is a great card overall, but in my opinion lifegain should still be done with a purpose in mind. If you have ways to utilize the life you’re gaining as well as effects like the Archangel that trigger on the act of gaining it, you’re adding more value to all the actions that add to your life total. Depending on the color combination you’re in, effects like Toxic Deluge, Sylvan Library, Chainer, Dementia Master or even colorless cards like Book of Rass can be of immense value. Combined with cards like the Archangel, you get the chance to really make full use of a lifegain strategy.
