The 46 Best Lifelinkers in Magic Ranked

Last updated on December 22, 2025

Solitude | Illustration by Svetlin Velinov

Evergreen keyword abilities are a key aspect of Magic design. These simple abilities appear in every MTG set and primarily affect combat. Vigilance, haste, flying, menace, and lifelink are a handful of examples. These keywords add rich texture to the combat phase and easily boost creatures that might be a little weak but don’t deserve another line or paragraph of text to boost their power.

Lifelink is an incredible evergreen keyword that radically changes combat math, especially when connected to a combat trick. But we’re interested in creatures with lifelink today, the ones that’ll gain us some life while chipping away at our opponents.

Let’s gain some life!

What is a Lifelink Creature in MTG?

Dragonlord Dromoka | Illustration by Eric Deschamps

Lifelink creatures are simply creatures with the lifelink keyword. When a creature with lifelink deals damage, you gain that much life. You gain life at the same time as the damage dealt and there’s no trigger associated with the ability.

Lifelink has been an evergreen keyword and staple of Magic for quite some time. It plays well with aggressive decks since you can easily race an opponent when you gain 4-5 life each combat and accumulate value from cards like Heliod, Sun-Crowned that care about lifegain.

For this list, I’m only considering creatures that innately have or gain lifelink. I’m not including creatures like Najeela, the Blade-Blossom that give other creatures lifelink. This list is weighted towards Commander; many of these creatures are role-players that slot into broad archetypes but others can command entire strategies.

Honorable Mention: Griselbrand

I have to acknowledge Magic’s best lifelink creature: Griselbrand! Although one of the very best black creatures, this demon doesn’t top the list is because it’s banned in Commander, which I based my rankings on. Griselbrand might be the best creature to cheat into play thanks to its incredible card draw ability, hands-down among the best card-draw effects in black.

#46. Aragorn, Company Leader

Aragorn, Company Leader can gain or spread around quite a few abilities, including lifelink. The greatest weakness of this human ranger lies in triggering it. There are only so many ways to make The Ring tempt you in Commander and many cards that spread ability counters do so to non-human creatures. There’s potential here, but this diamond needs a lot of polishing to shine.

#45. Alseid of Life’s Bounty

Alseid of Life's Bounty won’t attack often, but this kind of protective ability is vital in Commander since three players can remove your threats. Being an enchantment creature offers niche value for enchantment commanders like Sythis, Harvest's Hand.

#44. Arvad the Cursed

Arvad the Cursed only works in decks with a critical mass of legendary creatures, but the anthem effect ends games quickly.

#43. Dragonlord Dromoka

Dragonlord Dromoka provides a powerful disruptive ability that can protect combo pieces and finishing moves on your turn. This elder dragon‘s biggest drawback? You can find this effect for far less mana on cards like Grand Abolisher, Kutzil, Malamet Exemplar, and Myrel, Shield of Argive.

#42. Vona, Butcher of Magan

Vona, Butcher of Magan trades life for death by killing opposing creatures. Lifelink helps recoup the life lost so you can use Vona multiple times.

#41. Bloodline Necromancer

Bloodline Necromancer is a prime example of a creature that gets a boost from lifelink, even though it has nothing to do with the other abilities. This black vampire wizard offers a powerful, though extremely restrictive reanimation effect a handful of decks will happily run.

#40. Arcus Acolyte

Arcus Acolyte has a lot of potential. I wouldn’t run this cleric in decks that don’t care about +1/+1 counters, but the mana sink and potential buffs are valuable. It’s rather slow, but this Selesnya creature won’t fall off like other small 2-drops. 

#39. Cavalier of Night

Cavalier of Night provides casual sacrifice decks with a respectable top-end that turns random tokens or sacrifice fodder into a removal spell, plus it offers a reanimation effect later. It’s just a solid three-for-one.

#38. Kunoros, Hound of Athreos

Kunoros, Hound of Athreos is a great hatebear. This Orzhov creature is a 3-mana 3/3 with strong keywords that keeps players honest by shutting down multiple avenues for busted strategies.

#37. Gold-Forged Thopteryx

Gold-Forged Thopteryx can work with any UWx commander that cares about artifacts. While you could run this artifact creature just to protect your commander, it gets better with every additional legend.

#36. Valgavoth, Terror Eater

Valgavoth, Terror Eater is a fine reanimation target considering its juiced-up innate ward ability. With Valgavoth around, you can play the cards it redirects to exile from your opponents’ graveyard using your life as mana, then proceed to gain some 9 life when you attack. I’d be more interested in building around it with mill and reanimation than as a unique commander. But for Kaalia of the Vast decks, it’s a strong 9/9 flying lifelinker to cheat into play.

#35. Firja, Judge of Valor

Firja, Judge of Valor provides a steady stream of card draw if you can cast multiple spells in a turn. Grindy decks benefit from this steady stream of card advantage, plus the incidental lifegain helps buy a few more turns for the card draw to overwhelm your opponents.

#34. Nullpriest of Oblivion

We can pretend Nullpriest of Oblivion is a 6-mana play since we’ll rarely cast it without paying the kicker cost unless we want an evasive creature for ninjas or something. And this black creature is a pretty good 6-drop; it’s Phyrexian Delver with fewer drawbacks and more keywords.

#33. Gravebreaker Lamia

You typically want tutors to be as cheap as possible, but Gravebreaker Lamia makes up for its cost with a hefty body and enchantment synergies. Entomb on a stick has never looked so good.

#32. Valkyrie Harbinger

Valkyrie Harbinger packs an impressive punch. Creating angel tokens as a reward for lifegain is hardly unique, but lifelink makes this white creature a payoff and enabler in lifegain decks. It has impressive offensive and defensive potential. 

#31. Danitha, New Benalia’s Light

Danitha, New Benalia's Light only works in a narrow subset of decks but does so much work in them! This knight‘s triple keywords let it carry the auras and equipment it cares about well and offers a solid source of card advantage for Voltron-style strategies.

#30. Celestine, the Living Saint

To get the most out of Celestine, the Living Saint, you need more lifegain than its innate lifelink provides. But the reward is quite powerful, especially if you start adding some sacrifice synergies to consistently rebuy valuable creatures like Loran of the Third Path and Skyclave Apparition.

#29. Arwen, Mortal Queen

Arwen, Mortal Queen provides a neat pocket of value. An indestructible creature has plenty of utility, especially when it shares that indestructibility while spreading +1/+1 counters about.

#28. Dennick, Pious Apprentice

Dennick, Pious Apprentice does a lot of work. The front side disrupts all manner of graveyard-based strategies. When those decks inevitably remove it, Dennick gets a second life in Dennick, Pious Apparition, which goes from stopping graveyard strategies to profiting off them with a stream of Clue tokens.

#27. Enduring Innocence

Power 2 or less has been a huge theme of Mardu () colors lately, and here we have a card drawer in Enduring Innocence. The best part about this card is that the benefit stays with you after the creature dies in the form of an enchantment, which is usually harder to remove. You can systematically draw cards from this glimmer if you have ways to produce tokens on your opponent’s turns or if you have a commander that produces small 1/1 tokens each turn.

#26. Intrepid Adversary

Intrepid Adversary provides a mana sink and a power boost to aggressive creature decks. Flexibility makes this human scout tick. Two mana for a 3/1 lifelink is a reasonable early play for aggressive decks, and the ETB trigger lets this scale with the game. 

#25. Aclazotz, Deepest Betrayal / Temple of the Dead

Aclazotz, Deepest Betrayal’s been a mainstay of formats like Standard and Pioneer. It’s a good-sized bat with flying and lifelink that attacks and forces players to discard. It’s a strong card to have around if opponents (or you yourself) are playing wheel effects, because it can profit from it by making some Bat tokens. If you use Aclazotz as your commander, you’ll want to build around discard or discard and draw, but for that you already have options like Sheoldred, the Apocalypse or Tergrid, God of Fright. I see this card as a good engine for these decks, and even if it dies, you still get Temple of the Dead and the ability to transform it again later.

#24. Kroxa and Kunoros

Kroxa and Kunoros helps your creatures escape the graveyard. You need a hefty self-mill theme since five cards is a lot, but it’s achievable. I’d recommend pairing this big Mardu dog with cards like Mesmeric Orb and Faithless Looting variants to fill the yard.

#23. Sire of Seven Deaths

How many mechanics can you fit into a card? Sire of Seven Deaths is a giant Eldrazi that helps you to stabilize your board, and it fits into every deck interested in playing a 7-drop, especially in colors that want to gain life and can’t (, mostly). It’s very strong in colorless decks or Eldrazi decks, and an interesting inclusion in keyword soup decks like Kathril, Aspect Warper.

#22. G’raha Tia, Scion Reborn

With G'raha Tia, Scion Reborn, you’re getting your classic Young Pyromancer effect when you cast spells, one that creates a 1/1 Hero token. The main difference here is that you can buff the tokens with life. It can set up many different combo situations, and also give you a pretty good reason to gain life.

It’s interesting that G’raha Tia itself has lifelink, so you can suit it up to make tokens, attack, and get ready to do it again. There’s also a way to make a “storm combo” at the end of an opponent’s turn where you cast a bunch of cantrips, pay a lot of life, and strike back with a surprise army of 5/5’s or greater. Also, Anointed Procession exists.

#21. Verrak, Warped Sengir

Verrak, Warped Sengir seems incredibly busted but I never see anybody play it. The most basic synergy is with fetch lands since you can get honest land ramp in Orzhov, but there are plenty of other busted activated abilities worth doubling, like Vona, Butcher of Magan and Priest of Fell Rites.

#20. Drogskol Reaver

Drogskol Reaver is among the strongest lifegain payoffs because this spirit draws so many cards. Lifelink makes this a self-enabling engine that draws two cards when it hits thanks to double strike.

#19. Nethroi, Apex of Death

There seems to be a correlation between lifelink and reanimation, huh? Nethroi, Apex of Death plays as a combo deck using creatures with negative power, like Scourge of the Skyclaves, to reanimate an unreasonable number of creatures.

#18. Sorin of House Markov / Sorin, Ravenous Neonate

Sorin of House Markov is a very competent vampire and extort creature that asks you to gain 3 or more life a turn to transform it into Sorin, Ravenous Neonate. Just cracking a Food token transforms it.

The front face is a vampire 2-drop that defends and attacks well, but as with many vampires, it’s #1 place is alongside Edgar Markov. But if you want to build a typal vampire deck or a lifegain matters deck around it, Sorin can be a powerful choice. Sorin, Ravenous Neonate is a good planeswalker commander that gives you more life (Food tokens) or removal as a payoff for gaining life.

#17. Aragorn, King of Gondor

Drawing cards is one of the strongest game actions you can take in Magic, so becoming the monarch offers lots of value. Aragorn, King of Gondor pairs this card advantage with a bunch of pressure by preventing your opponents from blocking, and even steals the crown back easily.

#16. Angel of Invention

Angel of Invention works best in flicker decks to repeatedly trigger fabricate, but any creature- or token-based deck interested in an anthem can leverage this card.

#15. Yarok, the Desecrated

Yarok, the Desecrated is just Panharmonicon in the command zone, but supercharged since it doubles landfall abilities as well. This elemental commander’s your quintessential value-train Sultai commander that works in the 99 too.

#14. Felidar Sovereign

This might be the most contentious card on the list, or at least the one I’ve seen the most players complain about. See, Felidar Sovereign can just win Commander games without any lifegain needed. You’ll probably need some, as you’re unlikely to reach turn 6 or 7 without taking any damage, but it’s ridiculously easy to turn this cat beast into an alternate win condition.

#13. Elenda, the Dusk Rose

One of Magic's best vampire commanders, Elenda, the Dusk Rose helms many an aristocrat deck, but any list interested in sacrificing creatures can leverage this powerful token producer. It has intriguing overlap with Blood Artist effects to build a lifegain strategy that hinges on sacrifice and token effects.

#12. Arna Kennerüd, Skycaptain

Arna Kennerüd, Skycaptain screams Voltron considering that it’s already a strong body to equip and get in. When your modified creatures attack, you double the auras/counters on them. This ability goes very well with cards that count quantity of auras and equipment (Kemba, Kha Regent, or All That Glitters).

#11. Lurrus of the Dream-Den

Lurrus of the Dream-Den isn’t as broken in Commander as formats like Modern, but it still offers so much card advantage! Decks with this nightmare often exploit cheap artifacts like Lotus Petal and Mishra's Bauble for easy mana and card advantage. It also works with cards like Cathar Commando that sacrifice themselves to destroy permanents.

#10. Tymna the Weaver

In or out of the command zone, Tymna the Weaver is one of the strongest partner commanders. It doesn’t need Kraum, Ludevic's Opus to be terrifying. A couple of cheap creatures can draw way too many cards.

#9. Otharri, Suns’ Glory

Otharri, Suns' Glory provides incredible pressure. You can easily double up on the tokens with cards like Mondrak, Glory Dominus and Anointed Procession, then convert them into even more damage with Impact Tremors effects. Any deck interested in going wide can play this Boros phoenix to great effect, and lifelink means you can’t even race it!

#8. K’rrik, Son of Yawgmoth

K'rrik, Son of Yawgmoth is one of the strongest mono-black commanders, one of the best mono-color commanders overall, and all-in-all one of the best lifegain commanders. It helms one of the strongest cEDH decks that’s capable of winning on turn 1, but fairer strategies reap incredible benefits from the immense mana advantage this creature generates.

#7. Alela, Artful Provocateur

Alela, Artful Provocateur works well in a multitude of artifact and enchantress decks. You only need to create two or three faerie tokens for this faerie warlock to become formidable, and anything else is gravy.

#6. Archangel of Thune

Archangel of Thune is best known for being a combo piece alongside the likes of Spike Feeder and Shalai and Hallar, but this angel has plenty of fair applications. This synergizes well with lifegain decks, fits alongside +1/+1 counter commanders, and even works in generally aggressive strategies that want to buff a wide board.

#5. Ocelot Pride

Ocelot Pride is one of the strongest 1-drops in MTG. Cats have plenty of typal support, and just getting in, gaining 1 life, and making a token is way more than your average 1-mana creature gives you. Ocelot Pride snowballs pretty fast, as there are many ways to gain life consistently, and the late game ability to passively create copies of tokens is more than enough to justify running it.

#4. Serra Ascendant

Serra Ascendant is one of the best beat-down cards in Commander. Like Felidar Sovereign, this is templated in such a way you don’t need to do any work to get the benefits of an evasive 1-mana 6/6. Toss on a Sword of anything and your opponents are sweating.

#3. Atraxa, Praetors’ Voice

The best proliferate commander in the game, Atraxa, Praetors' Voice long claimed the top spot on EDHREC’s top commanders list for good reason (though The Ur-Dragon has supplanted it). Players love multicolor value piles and that neatly sums up this 4-color commander. It’s often seen as a superfriends commander for proliferation synergies because the combination of vigilance and flying defend them well.

#2. Atraxa, Grand Unifier

Atraxa only has two cards but they’re both bangers. One of the best ETB creatures in the game, Atraxa, Grand Unifier lacks the synergy of its predecessor but makes up for it with a wild amount of card advantage. It’s probably the best card to Natural Order into play and one of the best reanimation targets in the game. Even if they kill this Phyrexian angel you’ve refilled your hand, leaving your opponents with an up-mountain battle to handle.

#1. Solitude

Solitude is humbler than Atraxa but so, so versatile. Swords to Plowshares on a creature is just amazing, especially in the color with flicker effects. Handling threats for no mana can be critical in formats with so many powerful creatures running around. Any white deck would happily play Solitude in most formats.

Best Lifelink Payoffs

The best lifelink payoffs are the variety of lifegain synergies sprinkled throughout the game. A common reward for gaining life is tokens, as seen on cards like Valkyrie Harbinger and Griffin Aerie. Card draw and +1/+1 counters are other common rewards, as seen with Well of Lost Dreams and Heliod, Sun-Crowned, one of the best mono-white commanders.

Lifelink also works well with aggressive and Voltron strategies. Stacking auras, equipment, and counters on creatures like Serra Ascendant and Otharri, Suns' Glory lets you deal incredible amounts of damage without worrying about losing on the crackback. How do you race a player dealing 10 damage and gaining 10 life each combat?

Lifelinkers are the easiest way to consistently trigger your lifegain payoffs. In formats like Standard and Pioneer, decks built around cards like Ajani's Pridemate (or its more powerful variants) are usually competitive. Aerith Gainsborough, Essence Channeler, and Voice of the Blessed all benefit from lifelink creatures. Amalia Benavides Aguirre is a huge payoff for having lifelink creatures around.

Lifelink enablers like Regal Caracal or Archon of Sun's Grace allow creatures of a specific type to gain life as they deal damage.

Cleric Class is another variant on payoffs, amplifying the amount of life you gain. This is also huge for cards that say whenever you gain life, your opponents lose that amount of life: Enduring Tenacity, Sanguine Bond, Vito, Thorn of the Dusk Rose.

Can Lifelink Save Me from Losing?

Since lifelink is calculated at the same time combat damage is dealt, it can save you. Let me present you with a situation:

You’re at 2 life and control Mesa Unicorn. Your opponent attacks with two 2/2s and you block one. Damage will be dealt; you’ll take 2 damage to 0 but gain 2 life from lifelink at the same time, leaving you with net 2 life once all is said and done.

When this situation happens on MTG Arena, you’ll see your life go to 0, but you gain life right after. It still happens simultaneously in game rules, and that’s why you won’t lose, but Arena works in two steps. It first shows the damage you take from attacking creatures, and then the damage dealt by defending creatures. So, you’re taking damage first and gaining life right after.

Wrap Up

Archangel of Thune | Illustration by James Ryman

Lifelink might not be the flashiest or most iconic evergreen keyword, but it has a storied history in MTG and adds incidental value to creatures that might be too weak otherwise. It also opens the door to lots of synergy for lifegain decks and ways for aggressive strategies to counter their opponents with more than removal.

What’s your favorite lifelink creature? Do you run incidental lifegain in your EDH decks? Let me know in the comments or on the Draftsim Discord!

Stay safe and thanks for reading!