Lifegain Bodyguards (EDH / Commander) [Révision 14]

Here's a fun, durable, flexible lifegain deck I've been enjoying. You want to try to keep your life total above 29. Try and get Rune-Tail out on turn 3 if possible. Avoid making yourself a threat in the early game. Redirect damage from you to your creatures. Use every available opportunity to gain life. Fish out the Mistveil Plains with the fetch lands as soon as possible (it's an all-star). Elixir of Immortality is an unassuming card, but its "shuffle Elixir of Immortaility and your graveyard into their owner's library" ability has saved my ass many times against mill and board-wipe strategies. You'll be impressed how many times you can recover from a severe beating with this deck.

You're saying that Pariah's Shield should be here? I thought about it, but it's slow. Cast for 5, equip for 3...I've just found that there are other things I needed to cast at that time, so it sat in my hand until later in the game when I had surplus mana. And I'm on the fence about Ajani Goldmane. I'm not so hot about Planeswalkers in general. Sure, I've played games where the ultimate has fired, but mostly it's been a 4-cost "gain 2 life" spell, and then it's murdered. So I swapped it out for Dawn of Hope's card draw power...and it works great.