Orzhov Life Gain/Life Drain (Vintage)

Don't let the underwhelming title of the deck fool you. Although I have had little chance to test this deck outside my local meta, within it, this deck has pulled many victories, and has very quickly established itself as "the deck that scares people away". It is capable of gaining mass amounts of life in a single turn, and in the same turn dealing that life gained as damage back to the opponent. This deck saw many iterations, but I feel that its current build is most likely its final build.

LANDS:
Being a deck that runs many split cost cards (white/black) many with no generic cost, I run what I feel is a much higher number of dual lands, which has worked well for me, but considering one's personal preference, many could be subbed for the correct distribution of basic lands. Temple of Silence is a personal preference i prefer, being able to scry a card when they enter the battlefield. Orzhov Basilica can be good to play if you feel you can get away with the one turn setback in a worst case scenario, but can also return a tapped land to your hand as long as you didn't play a land previously in the turn. Godless Shrine can give you the mana you need early on in a rough spot, and typically with the amount of life this deck can gain, 2 life paid to come in untapped is a small price to pay that you can quickly and easily gain back. Vault of the Archangel is not a necessary card, but in some situations its 2/W/B second ability can be helpful, giving all your creatures lifelink and deathtouch in that turn.

CREATURES:
The deck theme is centered around the activated ability of one creature, although there are two other creatures who work extremely well as the "sword and shield" of the deck. Even though these cards are essential to the deck, I've found the synergy in the deck to be strong enough it can still function if they are removed from play or simply not drawn. Vizkopa Guildmage, at only a W/B cost, is the strongest source of damage in the deck, but is never meant to be an attacker or a blocker. He will often wind up dealing the majority of the damage you do, due to his second 1/W/B ability, allowing you to deal damage to your opponent equal to the life you've gained in a turn. Very rarely have I found that I've used his first ability (1/W/B Target creature gains lifelink until the end of turn). Lone Rider, although not very intimidating at first glance, can become a valuable asset to the deck once transformed, which, with the spells that are in the deck, should be easily accomplished. He can easily be played and should wind up being transformed typically on the same end step he is played. Lone Rider's transformed half, It That Rides As One, a 4/4 with First Strike, Trample, and Lifelink, will survive most encounters thrown at him, and can easily serve as an aggro role in the deck depending on the situation. Souls of the Faultless is the "shield" of the deck, and should make your opponent much more cautious in attacking you, as they will lose any life in combat damage that is dealt to it, while in turn you'll gain that life. Ayli, Eternal Pilgrim is not quite as necessary as the previous three, but can serve as a cheap deterrent to being attacked, as a 2 CMC with Deathtouch. Her first ability, costing 1 generic mana can be used to sacrifice a number of other creatures, preferably Souls of the Faultless or even a transformed Lone Rider to gain 8+ life, and then ideally use Vizkopa Guildmage to deal the life you gained back in damage to your opponent. Athreos, God of Passage isn't entirely necessary to the deck, but will ultimately speed the life drain aspect, and will add extra pressure onto your opponent. Any creatures that you control that would wind up in the graveyard while Athreos is in play would force your opponent to choose whether or not to pay a 3 life cost to send them to the graveyard. If they decline, the creatures will simply wind back up in your hand. In turn, they can simply be recast when you have the mana available to you. With the majority of the creatures in the deck not having generic mana costs, getting your devotion to 7 to have Athreos, God of Passage as a 3 CMC indestructible 5/4 creature opposed to a Legendary Enchantment won't be all too difficult. Between Athreos, God of Passage's effect combined with Ayli, Eternal Pilgrim's first generic 1 cost ability, you can have the means to potentially gain large amounts of life at a time and deal a fair amount of damage to your opponent at the same time. The difficulty will stem from whether your opponent would rather want the creatures in the graveyard or back in your hand to possibly repeat the process. Ultimately it's a win/win situation for you, and with a Vizkopa Guildmage, can end a game without your opponent realizing what they did to themselves. Between Athreos, God of Passage's effect (making blocking and losing creatures much less painful) and Ayli, Eternal Pilgrim's second activated ability that can double as creature removal, I feel comfortable in having no forms of removal in the Main deck, working well for me against a wide variety of other play styles. Divinity of Pride is the "bomb" card of the deck. At 5 white or black mana as a 4/4 flying lifelink creature, it'll gain an additional +4/+4 when you have 25+ life, potentially making it an 8/8 flyer with lifelink. This shouldn't be very hard to accomplish.

SPELLS:
This deck is deeply rooted in white/black life gain control, and the spells directly reflect that. The two most important spells in the deck are Alms of the Vein and Chaplain's Blessing. Alms of the Vein, at a 2/B cost and a madness cost of only one black mana, is a strong card that furthers the theme of the deck. Originally I had a number of Olivia's Dragoon in the deck to double as a madness enabler for Alms of the Vein, in addition to Olivia's Dragoon having the option of being a flying attacker/blocker, but found that I wound up using them far less often than I thought that I would for either purpose. Chaplain's Blessing, at only a cost of one white mana, is in my opinion the single best life gain card with no strings attached. Even at sorcery speed, gaining 5 life for 1 white mana is something I would take over a card like Angel's Mercy (instant speed, gain 7 life, but 4 times the cost at 2/W/W) or Sacred Nectar (gain 4 life for 1/w cost). With 4 Chaplain's Blessing in the deck, you can potentially gain a cumulative 20 life, and with Vizkopa Guildmage, you can in turn potentially deal over 20 damage from them alone. Either Alms of the Vein or Chaplain's Blessing can be used to trigger Lone Rider's transformation without an attack ever being made, and can also be used for Vizkopa Guildmage's second ability (which can be triggered as many times as you have the mana to pay for it, potentially dealing more than 5 damage for a single Chaplain's Blessing). Righteousness, at only a cost of 1 white mana is a card I recently added to experiment with, giving a blocking creature +7/+7 until the end of turn. With only 2 copies of them in the deck, you may not always draw them when needed, and in turn might find replacing them for an extra copy or two of cards already in the deck may be more of a viable option for you, but in a deck that doesn't deal much damage through attacking, this can be a solid card to have.

PLANESWALKERS:
Ajani Goldmane is a solid planeswalker for its 2/W/W cost. I have experimented with many other planeswalkers like Sorin Markov, Sorin, Grim Nemesis, and even Liliana Vess (mainly for her -2 fetch ability) but found that they were a little more costly to play at 5 and 6 CMC. In instances they were played, It would be already much later in the game and they usually made little difference in the outcome, be it a win or a loss. Ajani Goldmane, at only 4 CMC, Is much more useful. His +1 "you gain 2 life" is a fitting addition to the deck, but have found that I've used his -1 creature buffing ability far more often. His ultimate at -6 will ideally give you at least a 20-some/20-some avatar, and Vizkopa Guildmage's first ability can be amazing with this. Once the damage is dealt, any change in life will also reflect on the avatar's power and toughness, as it changes with your life total. Kaya, Ghost Assassin, at a 2/W/B cost is another frequently played card that fits the deck well. Her 0 ability can serve as a form of creature removal at only a cost of 2 life to yourself, which with all the mechanics in the deck is a small price to pay, or can be outright cancelled out if you have Ajani Goldmane on the field as well, with his +1 gain 2 life ability. She can also exile herself, removing her as a target on your opponent's turn and reentering the battlefield with a fresh 5 loyalty. Her minus abilities are nice additions that further the theme of the deck as well.

SIDEBOARD:
The sideboard contains creature, enchantment, and planeswalker removal in Ruinous Path, Mortify, and Unmake. Unmake, however, was added as more meant for a deck that prevents situations where a creature dying would trigger something beneficial for an opponent, like in many Black or Zombie heavy decks. Cards like Gavony Unhallowed will not trigger, and dredge decks that may use Victimize to continuously cycle hard to deal with creatures like Noosegraf Mob from the graveyard will no longer have the creatures you cast Unmake on to available to them, as they are "exiled", not "destroyed". Netherborn Phalanx and Suture Priest are more meant for token decks that can populate the board very quickly. Suture Priest can cause your opponent to think twice about making as many tokens, thus slowing their creation, while Netherborn Phalanx can be a solution for a situation where there are already many tokens on the field.

MAYBEBOARD:
These cards are cards that I've considered, but for one reason or another I haven't tried them in the deck or am unsure how well they would work with the mechanics. They may also be cards that fit the theme well, but would be unlikely to be added. Sorin, Grim Nemesis finds his place here out of my personal preference for Kaya, Ghost Assassin, but he could easily find a place in the deck if subbed out for Kaya, Ghost Assassin. With Kaya in this deck, It can be a Legacy/Vintage legal deck. With Sorin, Grim Nemesis, it will be Modern, Legacy, or Vintage Legal.

Thanks for taking a look, any recommendations or comments would be great.