At a glance
- Format: Brawl (100-card)
- Commander: Elenda, Saint of Dusk
- Colors: White / Black (WB)
- Archetype: Orzhov lifegain/aristocrats
- Power tier: mid-high
- Competitive Brawl: ✅ Legal
Strategy
Elenda is a lifelink, hexproof-from-instants threat who grows and gains menace the instant you climb above starting life, and every Orzhov body here feeds that engine. Cheap fodder and token-makers die into a wall of drain triggers — Zulaport Cutthroat, Vengeful Bloodwitch, A-Blood Artist, Susurian Voidborn, Vein Ripper, Vraan, Etched Familiar, and Bastion of Remembrance turn each death into a life swing and direct damage, while Village Rites, Deadly Dispute, Morbid Opportunist, Midnight Reaper, High-Society Hunter, and the new Phyrexian Arena keep your hand stocked. Lifegain payoffs (Ajani’s Pridemate, Hallowed Priest, Twinblade Paladin, Aerith, Angel of Vitality, Fiendish Panda) snowball off all the lifelink, and a dense suite of efficient WB removal (Mortify, Hero’s Downfall, Massacre Wurm, Bitter Triumph) keeps the board clear. Arcane Signet and Solemn Simulacrum smooth the mana and turn ramp into draw and fodder. You win by attrition: chip drain, recursive bodies, and an Elenda that simply outsizes everything.
Upgrade path
LAND REVAMP 2026-07-11: manabase rebuilt to kill taplands (cut guildgates/temples/gainlands); now runs shock + verge (+painland in Brawl) untapped duals + basics. Rare discipline verified clean against the owned pool: every rare/mythic in the 99 is OWNED (own>=1), none are crafts — Vraan, Vein Ripper, Midnight Reaper, Xathrid Necromancer, Vincent Valentine, Preacher of the Schism, Aerith, Qarsi Revenant, Elegy Acolyte, Scavenger’s Talent, Demon of Loathing, Massacre Wurm, Inspiring Commander, plus the newly added owned rares Phyrexian Arena (own2), High-Society Hunter (own1), Solemn Simulacrum (own1) and the owned rare duals (Bleachbone Verge, Shattered Sanctum, Starting Town). The ONLY crafted card remains the approved shock Godless Shrine (1 copy). Zero rare/mythic spell crafts. Refinement pass (this version): the full-text re-eval surfaced several undervalued owned staples. Added A-Blood Artist (4th Blood-Artist drain), Susurian Voidborn (warp-flexible drain that also fires on artifact deaths), High-Society Hunter (sac-for-counters + draw on every nontoken death), Phyrexian Arena (premier black card-advantage engine), Arcane Signet (best 2-mana WB fixing rock), and Solemn Simulacrum (ramp + draw + sac fodder). Cut the weakest filler to make room: Mintstrosity, Honored Knight-Captain (dead Equipment tutor — no payoff equipment in deck), Prosperity Tycoon (clunky off-theme tokens), Beetle-Headed Merchants (slow 5-mana attack-sac, outclassed by High-Society Hunter), Curious Farm Animals, and vanilla Healer’s Hawk. Land count unchanged at 35. Could still craft duplicate Bleachbone Verge / Caves of Koilos / Concealed Courtyard later for more untapped WB sources if desired. | Land audit 2026-08-23: +2 lands (cut Cat Collector, Angel of Vitality).
Cards
Decklist
Paste straight into MTG Arena (or Moxfield/Archidekt):
Commander
1 Elenda, Saint of Dusk
Deck
1 Zulaport Cutthroat
1 Vengeful Bloodwitch
1 A-Blood Artist
1 Susurian Voidborn
1 Vraan, Executioner Thane
1 Vein Ripper
1 Etched Familiar
1 Shroudstomper
1 Bastion of Remembrance
1 Morbid Opportunist
1 Midnight Reaper
1 High-Society Hunter
1 Xathrid Necromancer
1 Vincent Valentine
1 Preacher of the Schism
1 Ajani's Pridemate
1 Hallowed Priest
1 Twinblade Paladin
1 Aerith Gainsborough
1 Fiendish Panda
1 Gifted Aetherborn
1 Qarsi Revenant
1 Outlaw Medic
1 Inspiring Overseer
1 Dusk Legion Zealot
1 Phyrexian Rager
1 Elegy Acolyte
1 Syr Vondam, the Lucent
1 Invasion Reinforcements
1 Resolute Reinforcements
1 Vampiric Rites
1 Scavenger's Talent
1 Demon of Loathing
1 Village Rites
1 Mortify
1 Hero's Downfall
1 Infernal Grasp
1 Bake into a Pie
1 Bitter Triumph
1 Heartless Act
1 Long Goodbye
1 Tribute to Hunger
1 Valorous Stance
1 Feed the Swarm
1 Massacre Wurm
1 Phyrexian Arena
1 Arcane Signet
1 Mind Stone
1 Solemn Simulacrum
1 Deadly Dispute
1 Inspiring Commander
1 Gravelighter
1 Hangarback Walker
1 Bloodghast
1 Junji, the Midnight Sky
1 Languish
1 Sothera, the Supervoid
1 Godless Shrine
1 Command Tower
1 Bleachbone Verge
1 Shattered Sanctum
1 Capital City
1 Starting Town
23 Swamp
8 Plains
1 Darkstar Augur
1 Lyra Dawnbringer
1 Elspeth, Storm Slayer
1 Swords to Plowshares
1 Go for the Throat
Ideal build (upgrade target)
Ideal turns Elenda into a dedicated lifegain-drain machine by pairing the aristocrats drain core with a real lifegain payoff package: the Sanguine Bond + Exquisite Blood two-card kill, plus Bloodthirsty Conqueror, Enduring Tenacity, Heliod, Archangel of Thune, and grow-engines (Ajani’s Pridemate, Voice of the Blessed, Twinblade Paladin) that keep you above starting life so Elenda stays huge with menace. Over the current build it adds Sheoldred, premium untapped WB duals, and a tighter top-end (Swords to Plowshares, Anguished Unmaking, Elesh Norn, Vein Ripper). Top craft priorities: the Exquisite Blood + Sanguine Bond combo, Sheoldred the Apocalypse, Bloodletter of Aclazotz, Archangel of Thune, and the untapped dual lands.
Crafts to reach the ideal: 25 (4 mythic, 14 rare, 3 uncommon, 1 common, 3 other)
- Mythic: Archangel of Thune, Bloodthirsty Conqueror, Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite, Heliod, Sun-Crowned
- Rare: Brightclimb Pathway // Grimclimb Pathway, Caves of Koilos, Concealed Courtyard, Enduring Tenacity, Isolated Chapel, Metropolis Reformer, Righteous Valkyrie, Serra Ascendant, Silent Clearing, Toxic Deluge, Voice of the Blessed, Welcoming Vampire, Well of Lost Dreams, Woe Strider
- Uncommon: Corpse Knight, Cruel Celebrant, Elas il-Kor, Sadistic Pilgrim
- Common: Blood Fountain
- Other: Damn, Orzhov Signet, Talisman of Hierarchy
Full ideal list (paste into Arena):
Commander
1 Elenda, Saint of Dusk
Deck
1 A-Blood Artist
1 Zulaport Cutthroat
1 Cruel Celebrant
1 Bastion of Remembrance
1 Vengeful Bloodwitch
1 Corpse Knight
1 Elas il-Kor, Sadistic Pilgrim
1 Marauding Blight-Priest
1 Vito, Thorn of the Dusk Rose
1 Vraan, Executioner Thane
1 Bloodletter of Aclazotz
1 Sanguine Bond
1 Exquisite Blood
1 Bloodthirsty Conqueror
1 Enduring Tenacity
1 Archangel of Thune
1 Heliod, Sun-Crowned
1 Ajani's Pridemate
1 Voice of the Blessed
1 Twinblade Paladin
1 Righteous Valkyrie
1 Well of Lost Dreams
1 Gifted Aetherborn
1 Qarsi Revenant
1 Inspiring Overseer
1 Dusk Legion Zealot
1 Serra Ascendant
1 Welcoming Vampire
1 Phyrexian Arena
1 Sheoldred, the Apocalypse
1 Midnight Reaper
1 Morbid Opportunist
1 Deadly Dispute
1 Preacher of the Schism
1 Village Rites
1 Vampiric Rites
1 Woe Strider
1 Bloodghast
1 Cult Conscript
1 Reassembling Skeleton
1 Swords to Plowshares
1 Anguished Unmaking
1 Mortify
1 Hero's Downfall
1 Damn
1 Bitter Triumph
1 Infernal Grasp
1 Go for the Throat
1 Massacre Wurm
1 Toxic Deluge
1 Vein Ripper
1 Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite
1 Angel of Vitality
1 Aerith Gainsborough
1 Metropolis Reformer
1 Blood Fountain
1 Etched Familiar
1 Xathrid Necromancer
1 Arcane Signet
1 Orzhov Signet
1 Talisman of Hierarchy
1 Mind Stone
1 Solemn Simulacrum
1 Command Tower
1 Godless Shrine
1 Caves of Koilos
1 Bleachbone Verge
1 Concealed Courtyard
1 Brightclimb Pathway
1 Isolated Chapel
1 Shattered Sanctum
1 Silent Clearing
1 Starting Town
15 Swamp
11 Plains
Card images & data via Scryfall.