Last updated on November 14, 2025
Vito, Thorn of the Dusk Rose | Illustration by Lie Setiawan
Lifegain is a near-and-dear MTG strategy for a lot of players. When you consider that you lose by having 0 life, gaining a bunch of life makes it hard for you to lose. It can also help you against burn decks, or in many race situations.
It’s also a popular WB or GWB strategy, and of course, EDH has taken this strategy to new heights, considering that you can simply defend your board, gain life, and wait for your critical wincon to finish the game. Some commanders in MTG have built-in win conditions if you gain lots of life, or lend themselves to be built this way.
Today, we’re ranking the best ways to give your creatures lifelink that MTG has to offer, and some are even colorless cards that fit a variety of decks.
What Are Lifelink Enablers in MTG?
Caduceus, Staff of Hermes | Illustration by Evan Shipard
Lifelink enablers in MTG are cards that give your creatures lifelink, either until the end of the turn, or permanently, sometimes in the form of lifelink counters. You can also grant lifelink to a certain creature type, attacking creatures, or other specific categories of cards. To stay on track here, I’m not considering the “old lifelink,” so more Unflinching Courage, less Armadillo Cloak. With that in mind, let’s check out the best ways to grant lifelink to your creatures in MTG.
#27. True Conviction
True Conviction is what you want to give your creatures. More damage and lifegain. It doesn’t do anything if you have a weak board or no board, though, so this card is usually relegated to casual play.
#26. Skrelv’s Hive
Skrelv's Hive sees play in competitive Standard toxic decks to create cheap tokens every turn and poison your opponents. Not only that, but once your opponent becomes corrupted, your toxic creatures become harder to race. Decks that rely on tokens with cards like Anointed Procession or Tocasia's Welcome also appreciate this card.
#25. Metamorphosis Fanatic
Metamorphosis Fanatic is 6 mana (or sometimes even 2?) for a good body, plus a reanimated creature that gains lifelink. It also has good creature types, and clerics have synergies with lifegain and reanimation.
#24. Envoy of the Ancestors + Abzan Battle Priest
It’s easier to spread +1/+1 counters in MTG these days than lifelink counters, so Abzan Battle Priest has a role, though Envoy of the Ancestors has basically power crept the Khans of Tarkir card out of existence. If your deck cares about counters and lifegain, you should consider playing Envoy, with Battle Priest for redundancy.
#23. Teysa Karlov
Teysa Karlov grants lifelink, but only for tokens. Orzhov’s afterlife mechanic makes tokens upon death, which Teysa multiplies and buffs.
#22. Arwen, Mortal Queen
Arwen, Mortal Queen can “trade its immortal life” for two +1/+1 counters and lifelink counters. It makes much more sense to play this card alongside proliferate, as we can double all these counters and keep the engine going.
#21. Dihada, Binder of Wills
Dihada, Binder of Wills gives lifelink to a creature until the end of turn, which is nice considering it's on the +2 ability and bad considering the legendary restriction. But it’s EDH and there’re plenty of ways to make all-out legend decks these days. At least your commander always has strong support with this card around.
#20. Lyra Dawnbringer
Lyra Dawnbringer is a strong inclusion as an angel lord that also gives your creatures lifelink. It sees some play in formats like Standard as a good sideboard card in decks like blue-white control.
#19. Soul of Theros
Soul of Theros requires a lot of mana to give all your creatures lifelink, but it’s not a 6-mana do-nothing enchantment. Play this card only if you care about the lifegain part, as 6-mana white creatures are powerful enough these days for this card to be considered weak.
#18. Witch’s Clinic
Witch's Clinic is an easy inclusion in your Commander deck if you’re not playing many colors and if lifegain matters for your plan. A commander like Dina, Soul Steeper can sacrifice a big creature and deal double damage with lifelink, all for just 2-3 mana.
#17. Odric, Lunarch Marshal
Odric, Lunarch Marshal is an enabler and payoff for this keyword-based strategies. Just one lifelink creature is enough to grant everybody else the same benefit. It’s interesting to bring equipment that grant abilities, or those “mechanic soup” creatures.
#16. Archon of Sun’s Grace
It’s a very conditional lifelink for pegasus creatures only, but Archon of Sun's Grace sees play as a way to get more mileage out of your enchantments. Red aggressive decks hate seeing a 3/4 lifelinker that makes other 2/2 lifelink creatures on the other side of the board.
#15. Regal Caracal
Regal Caracal is one of the better cat lords. It produces two lifelink bodies, making it an interesting sideboard card against aggro. In a deck that already has strong cats, the turns you play this card and swing are very profitable in your favor.
#14. Daybreak Coronet
For a long time, Daybreak Coronet was a staple in aura/Voltron/Bogles decks. This card gives you so many benefits for only 2 mana, and it only requires that the enchanted creature already has an aura.
#13. Caduceus, Staff of Hermes
Casting and equipping Caduceus, Staff of Hermes costs a lot of mana, but considering the high amount of life players have in EDH, giving protection, +5/+5, and lifelink doesn’t seem like a bad deal. It’s awesome when you reach the 30+ life threshold, and it helps you return to that as well.
#12. Najeela, the Blade-Blossom
When focusing on the extra attack step, it’s easy to forget that Najeela, the Blade-Blossom grants lifelink to all your creatures for , not just warriors as I initially thought. Lifelink hardly matters if you're creating infinite loops with Najeela, but it also makes it hard to race if you're playing it the “fair” way.
#11. Sorin, Imperious Bloodlord
I’m putting this lifelink enabler a little higher than most conditionals because Sorin, Imperious Bloodlord has seen plenty of competitive play across multiple formats. Yes, giving lifelink to certain vampires is annoying, but cheating expensive vampires into play can be backbreaking.
#10. Basilisk Collar
Besides being cheap and granting lifelink, Basilisk Collar sees play in decks that care about pinging their opponents. Each “ping” effect becomes a removal spell when the pinger has deathtouch. Deathtouch + lifelink is a huge combo on a big green trampler.
#9. Vault of the Archangel
While not the best way to grant lifelink for all creatures, the opportunity cost of playing Vault of the Archangel is minimal in a WB deck, and it doesn’t even enter tapped. If you care about tokens or about lifegain, you should jam this into your lands.
#8. Sorin, Solemn Visitor
It’s rare for a planeswalker to give all your creatures lifelink on the + ability. Sorin, Solemn Visitor even defends itself by making a token if things aren’t in your favor. It also has a quick-to-reach emblem for EDH that won’t win the game outright, but is annoying as hell for your opponents.
#7. Whip of Erebos
Whip of Erebos is an awesome way to combine lifelink with reanimation (more like an unearth). The passive alone is useful, and it also allows you to get a second use out of a creature, whether because it has a good enters effect, or because it hits hard.
#6. Steel Seraph
Steel Seraph is a nice mix between a 3/3 and a 5/4 flier with relevant abilities, and granting lifelink to anyone, including this card, is a worthwhile addition. Prototype cards go very well with blink effects, since you can pay 3 mana for a small creature and blink it to get the full 5/4.
#5. Gix’s Command
Gix's Command sees some play in Standard as a versatile card. Against aggro, you can buff your creature with lifelink and sweep their board of small ones, while forcing the midrange player to sacrifice their best threat, or grinding against control. The command’s versatility makes this card worth playing.
#4. Shadowspear
Shadowspear is one of the most effective ways to grant lifelink and evasion to a creature, which goes very well with many EDH decks that need their commander to dish out damage. Lifelink is a nice bonus on this card, seeing as many decks would play it for the trample and other abilities. Many decks play cards like Swiftfoot Boots to protect their commander, so this is also a good meta call to break that protection.
#3. Akroma’s Will
Akroma's Will is one of the rare spells that combines protection and offensive capabilities together. With just this card, you can protect your creatures from a sweeper, gain a bunch of life, give them evasion, and increase your damage output—at instant speed, no less.
#2. Vito, Thorn of the Dusk Rose
Vito, Thorn of the Dusk Rose is one of the cornerstones of EDH lifelink decks. Having Sanguine Bond available from the command zone is powerful, although Vito itself is rather fragile. Granting lifelink to all creatures for works wonders with its own triggered ability, and at the very least, you’re powering many lifegain synergies while gaining life at your opponent’s expense.
#1. Heliod, Sun-Crowned
Heliod, Sun-Crowned is an easy way to grant lifelink to other creatures since you just need to pay for each instance. It’s also a payoff, spreading +1/+1 counters around, and a wincon with cheap combos like Walking Ballista. As such, the card features in many competitive Constructed decks across multiple formats. This card can be used as a commander or as an addition to enchantment decks, +1/+1 counter decks, and more.
Best Lifelink-Granting Payoffs
Now that we’ve seen the best ways to grant lifelink to your creatures, here are some payoffs.
Duskfang Mentor can be a lifelink lord, permanently buffing your lifelink creatures.
Many black decks in EDH win by assembling a lifegain/life drain combo. With just Sanguine Bond in play, your lifelink creatures deal “double” damage. A 5/5 lifelink creature deals 10 damage because you gained 5 life.
Commanders like Vito, Thorn of the Dusk Rose or Dina, Soul Steeper have lifegain as a built-in wincon.
Bilbo, Birthday Celebrant wants you to have 111 life. I’m not saying you’ll win if you do that, but it’s close.
Aetherflux Reservoir is both a lifegain enabler and a payoff. You can win a game by channeling the extra life you’ve gained from lifelink creatures into damage.
Cards that care about a high amount of life are interesting in this scenario. Felidar Sovereign can win the game, while cards like Serra Ascendant and Righteous Valkyrie thrive when you have extra life points.
MTG has many lifegain payoffs, especially in white. A card like Celestine, the Living Saint can be a potent reanimator commander when you gain life in huge swings. Will, Scion of Peace can cast ridiculously expensive spells. Well of Lost Dreams turns all this lifegain into card advantage.
Liesa, Shroud of Dusk can use your higher-than-normal lifetotal to pay for its commander tax.
Many creatures in MTG have lifelink if you control a lifelink creature. Odric, Blood-Cursed thrives if you control creatures with different keyword abilities, while Odric, Lunarch Marshal can grant everybody lifelink if you control a single lifelink creature. You can also have cards like Indominus Rex, Alpha, which has lifelink if you discard a lifelink creature.
Finally, some typal decks like angels, clerics, cats, vampires, and bats benefit more from lifegain than others. Many creatures in these decks already have lifegain or contain payoffs if you’re gaining life every turn or if you gain a certain chunk of life (say, 3 or 4 a turn).
Wrap-Up
Witch's Clinic | Illustration by Piotr Dura
And that wraps it up for all that lifegain, guys. Not all colors in MTG can gain life, although there are many colorless ways to do that. The ones that do usually develop strategies around it, like white and black, and these are the easiest and most effective ways to enable lifelink for other colors, or to pursue a dedicated lifegain strategy. If you're looking for Commander decks built around gaining life, I’d start with Orzhov, Esper, or Abzan.
What are your favorite ways to gain life in MTG? Let us know by leaving a comment down below in the comments section or on Draftsim Twitter/X. Stay safe, folks, and thanks for reading our content!
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