The Best Creatures With Lifelink In Magic: The Gathering

Lifelink might not win you a game in Magic: The Gathering, but it certainly will keep you alive long enough to pull out a win. Some creatures are bombs on their own, while others grow stronger over the course of the game.

There are more than 400 creatures with lifelink in Magic, split across all colors of the game. Keep in mind that we’re not talking about creatures that will gain you life through other means, like entering the battlefield or death triggers, just those with the lifelink keyword.

10

Felidar Sovereign

Finally, A Way To Win

For all the life you gain, lifelink isn’t a win condition, and it is important to keep that in mind, especially in formats like Commander. You can still lose to Commander Damage, poison counters, and other effects that let your opponents automatically win.

That’s where Felidar Sovereign comes in, a beefy Cat creature with both lifelink and vigilance. Once you hit 40 or more life on your upkeep, you just win the game. While you will paint a huge target on your head and the Felidar’s, if you can pull off this win it will feel amazing.

9

Rhox Faithmender

A Combo Piece

If you’re itching to gain as much life as possible, you can’t go wrong with Rhox Faithmender. This unique Rhino Monk not only has lifelink but also has a very strong ability that increases your life-gaining potential.

Anytime you would gain life, you gain double that amount with Rhox Faithmender in play. If you get two of these Rhinos out, you’ll gain four times as much life, multiplying it more and more as you get more of this creature out, which can quickly spiral out of control for your opponents.

8

Liesa, Forgotten Archangel

Gone But Not Forgotten

The long cast-aside Angel from Innistrad, Liesa, Forgotten Archangel is a white and black Angel that was thought destroyed by Avacyn ages ago. As it turns out, she got better over the centuries and is back to try and bring balance to the plane.

Liesa’s lifelink ability takes a bit of a backseat compared to her other abilities since she is more designed to keep cycling your creatures from the graveyard back to your hand turn after turn. That said, she does make attacking a bit more advantageous with the lifelink since it can keep you in the clear while some of your creatures tread between the graveyard and your hand.

7

Lathiel, The Bounteous Dawn

Turn That Life Into Pain

Since you’re gaining life, you might as put that life to good use. With Lathiel, the Bounteous Dawn, you can turn all that life you’ve gained into +1/+1 counters. At the end of your turn, you get to distribute +1/+1 counters equal to the amount of life you’ve gained this turn.

While Lathiel has only two powers and can’t power themselves up from their ability, you can utilize any number of other more passive life gain abilities to start spreading those +1/+1 to your other creatures.

6

Wurmcoil Engine

Two For The Price Of One

A deadly creature that can slot into practically any deck, Wurmcoil Engine is a colorless artifact Wurm that doesn’t just have lifelink but deathtouch as well, and it doesn’t end there. If the Wurmcoil Engine were to die, you get to make two more, though smaller versions of it.

Once split into two 3/3 Wurm tokens, the keywords get split up in two, with one Wurm getting lifelink and the other Deathtouch. Since it can fit in practically any deck, Wurmcoil Engine gives everyone the potential to help sustain themselves a bit.

5

Aragorn, King Of Gondor

The Return Of The King

Lifelink seems like such an unnecessary keyword to add to Aragorn, King of Gondor, especially considering how much advantage he gives you through every other aspect of the game. This version of Aragorn is focused on Commander play, making you the monarch when it comes into play.

Being the monarch lets you draw a card at the end of your turn, but you can lose the status when another player deals combat damage to you.

Aragorn can push past your opponent’s defences when you’re the monarch, effectively making him and all your other creatures unblockable for the turn.

4

K’rrik, Son Of Yawgmoth

Phyrexia Is Back

An absolutely fascinating creature for a mono-black deck, K’rrik, Son of Yawgmoth, effectively lets you trade your life total for mana, so long as that mana is black. Anytime you would spend black mana with K’rrik out, you can instead pay two life to pay for that cost.

While you’re at it, K’rrik gets +1/+1 for each black spell you cast, which feeds into his potential. Though K’rrik starts at just a 2/2, you can recover some of that life you’ve been spending once you start swinging in with him as he gets bigger and bigger.

3

Archangel Of Thune

Paragon Of Lifelink

Let’s say you’re gaining a ton of life, but that doesn’t necessarily mean you’re putting yourself ahead in the game; you’re just not dying. That’s where Archangel of Thune steps in.

Any time you would gain life, you get to put a +1/+1 counter on each creature you control. It doesn’t matter how much life you gain, just that you do. If you have a reliable and repeatable way to keep gaining life each turn, you can quickly power up your team to unstoppable heights.

2

Atraxa, Grand Unifier

Bring Them All Together

Atraxa is a bit more of a wildcard than an exclusive lifelink card, but it just does so much work that it is hard to ignore. Not only is this massive Phyrexian Angel coming with four keywords, but she also lets you take a peek at the top ten cards of your deck and take one card of each card type and add it to your hand.

That lifelink comes in handy, though, especially since this iteration of Atraxa has a 7/7 stat line, ensuring a 14-point swing anytime Atraxa connects with an opponent.

1

Tymna The Weaver

Life Is Just A Resource

Not just a powerful lifelink creature, but one of the most powerful and popular commanders around, Tymna the Weaver is a little white and black creature that comes with both lifelink and a very strong ability that utilizes your life as a resource.

On your postcombat main phase, you can pay X life, with X equaling the number of opponents who were dealt combat damage this turn. If you do, you get to draw that many cards. You don’t even have to attack with Tymna, just keep spreading the damage out across your opponents, and you’ll keep your advantage against your opponent.