Bad Deck Baz Presents It's A Wonderful Life!

Hello and welcome to the final installment of the Bad Deck Baz series. We've raced a 5/5 flying shrouded sphinx and out-milled a mill deck. Now let's see what we can do with It's A Wonderful Life!

It's a Wonderful Life!

A “Bad Deck Baz” Deck

10 Plains

2 Forest

4 Sunpetal Grove

4 Kabira Crossroads

4 Graypelt Refuge

4 Battlegrace Angel

4 Mycoid Shepherd

4 Grazing Gladehart

2 Sunseed Nurturer

2 Mesa Enchantress

2 Lifelink

1 Landbind Ritual

3 Sylvan Bounty

3 Cradle of Vitality

4 Soul's Grace

2 Celestial Mantle

2 Sunspring Expedition

3 Angel's Mercy

Sideboard 

3 Felidar Sovereign

3 Wall of Reverence

2 Captured Sunlight

4 Solemn Offering

3 Ajani Goldmane 

As you can see here, Baz has definitely taken this lifegain theme to heart, with 73/75 cards gaining life, or having the potential to do so. Let's see how it goes.

Round 1: It's A Wonderful Life for Bant!

He gets Hierarch, Borderland Ranger, Ranger of Eos, Hierarch before I manage my first spell: a Sunseed Nurturer. I drop a Mesa Enchantress and Landbind Ritual, but I've already noticed a problem with this deck: without Wrath effects, the opponent can and will keep scaling up their threats until your lifegain can't keep up. He drops a Scute Mob and a Sphinx, and mows me down.

Game 2 is a near instant replay. Hierarch, Borderland Ranger, Dauntless Escort. I do put up some resistance this game.  My Wall of Reverence meets a Path, my Gladehart has to chump, and my Ajani has no defenders. I get slammed again.

0-1

Round 2: It's A Wonderful Life for Grixis Control!

I drop Gladehart, and Mycoid Shepherd. The latter gets hit by Double Negative. I land a second, and he Quakes for 4. He Cruels me, and I Soul's Grace my last Shepherd in response. My hand and board are decimated, but I'm at 35 life. A Sphinx of Jwar Isle and a Siege-Gang Commander decimate that pretty fast though. I drop a Battlegrace Angel which meets a Terminate. He then kills me.

Game 2 I get stuck on 3 lands. Against a Siege-Gang Commander. I never find land 4. It isn't pretty.

0-2

Round 3: It's A Wondeful Life for Mono-White Lifegain! (no really!)

He gets Knight of the White Orchid, which my Gladehart is able to stem the wounds of. I drop Battlegrace and attack with my 3/3 lifelink Deer of Death. We keep going back and forth with two Knights vs. Battlegrace, and then I drop Cradle of Vitality. It meets Oblivion Ring. I drop another one, to make a 4/4 Gladehart thanks to Landfall. His Knight Trio slams me. (3 Knights of the White Orchid). He then drops an Elspeth and an Ajani. His Knights slay me, despite my 6/6 and growing Gladehart. I actually manage to drop an 11/11 Sunseed Nurturer and crack 60 life, but Elspeth's ultimate ensures my eventual defeat.

Game 2 I come out strong with Sunspring Expeditions. Ajani clashes with the Knight, and he drops Wall of Reverence. I drop Mycoid Shepherd, he drops Oblivion Ring on Ajani. He drops Emeria, the Sky Ruin. I drop Cradle, he names it with Pithing Needle. I Solemn Offering his O-Ring, but Baneslayer re-kills Ajani. I attack with the Shepherd, crack an Expedition, and make a 13/12. He says I can't do that, but I point out that Cradle's ability is triggered, not activated. 

He plays another Wall and starts gaining 10 life a turn. He soon gets Emeria the Sky Ruin active. He gains a lot of life and casts Day of Judgement to kill my creatures which I can't bring back. However, I drop a Cradle of Vitality, Mycoid Shepherd, and Wall of Reverence. This combo allows me to make a very very large Wall, but his guys keep coming back so I can't attack without trample, which the deck does not have. I get 2 500+ P/T creatures and 850 life, but he finds his Felidar Sovereign before I find mine and the game is over.

0-3

Round 4: It's A Wonderful Life for Time Sieve!

Turn 4 I get a Mycoid Shepherd while he gets Kaleidostone and Howling Mine. He's wary of my one trick: gaining life to foil his attack. Therefore when he comboes off he makes sure he hits me for about 20 above my life total, and I fold.

Game 2 I get a Cradle and a Battlegrace. I also Solemn Offering his Howling Mine. In a long, boring game, he attacks for 13 with a Hulk, and I triple Soul's Grace, hoping he'll deck himself trying to deal 60 damage. Unfortunately, he does not.

0-4

And that ends the Bad Deck Baz series! With my stellar 2-10 record I now depart for greener pastures where I can go 3-1 once again. Join me next time as I explore a concept that is incredibly important to playing Magic competitively: even if you hate me for believing it.