Ayli, Eternal Pilgrim is a noteworthy commander featured in the Magic: The Gathering Foundations set. Though this card is not new—having first appeared in the 2016 release, Oath of the Gatewatch—it has been reprinted in The List, making it accessible to a fresh wave of players.
Ayli, Eternal Pilgrim represents a distinctive Orzhov (white/black) commander that allows for a blend of sacrifice and lifegain strategies. Orzhov is particularly well-suited for these approaches, facilitating the creation of a powerful Commander deck under Ayli’s leadership.
Deck Overview
The deck incorporates 32 creatures, 4 sorceries, 4 instants, 7 artifacts, 17 enchantments, and 34 lands. Most creatures either provide lifegain or benefit from it, while the enchantments serve as sacrifice outlets and offer control of the battlefield.
Key Cards
Ayli, Eternal Pilgrim
As the key commander, Ayli, Eternal Pilgrim acts as your main source of value. You can consistently sacrifice creatures to trigger lifegain, so long as you have one mana available. In addition to providing lifegain, Ayli can serve as a removal tool if you have at least ten more life than your starting total, which is relatively easy to achieve with this deck.
What’s advantageous about Ayli is that you don’t need her on the battlefield for the deck to function effectively. The lifegain and sacrifice strategies can operate independently, but having Ayli makes it much easier to maintain control once you accumulate enough life to exile nonland permanents.
Dictate of Erebos / Grave Pact
Both Dictate of Erebos and Grave Pact have similar effects, with Grave Pact being a bit less expensive to cast. They enable you to turn every creature sacrificed into a forced sacrifice for your opponents. It doesn’t matter whether the creature you sacrifice is strong or weak; both enchantments will activate upon its death.
Importantly, they only trigger when a creature you control dies. This means that even if you’re not sacrificing a creature, your opponents will be cautious about attacking, as losing a chump blocker will compel them to sacrifice some of their own creatures.
Jacked Rabbit
Jacked Rabbit is incredibly useful in this deck. Its Ravenous ability allows it to enter with plenty of +1/+1 counters, which not only makes it more formidable but also generates 1/1 Rabbit tokens when it enters. These tokens can activate lifegain effects, significantly boosting your life total.
In dire situations, Jacked Rabbit can be sacrificed to Ayli for lifegain equal to its toughness. If it has a lot of counters, this could translate to a substantial lifegain, helping you recover from low life points or meet the threshold needed for Ayli’s removal effect.
Elenda’s Hierophant
Elenda’s Hierophant is a creature you want to get onto the battlefield quickly once your lifegain engine is running. It gradually increases its stats and, with flying, can become a formidable attacker if your opponents lack sufficient blockers.
Elenda synergizes well with Ayli since the life gained from sacrificing her can be considerable due to her likely high toughness. Additionally, the process creates several 1/1 Vampire tokens that can further trigger lifegain effects and act as future sacrifice fodder.
Game Strategy
An Ayli, Eternal Pilgrim deck is all about generating life while controlling the board. Important lifegain cards include Soul Warden, Soul’s Attendant, and Suture Priest. You’ll also want creatures that cause opponents to lose life when yours die, such as Blood Artist and Zulaport Cutthroat.
Enchantments that create creature tokens are particularly vital, as they trigger lifegain abilities upon entry and provide sacrifice fodder for Ayli. Notable mentions include Bitterblossom and Black Market Connections, which also help with ramp and card draw.
Many creatures can gain +1/+1 counters when you gain life, making them potent threats while also serving as excellent sacrifice options for additional lifegain. Cards like Ajani’s Pridemate and Voice of the Blessed are notable, but Archangel of Thune stands out, as it can distribute +1/+1 counters to all your creatures.
The main goal of this deck is to outlast your opponents, achieving an insurmountable life total that protects you from elimination. You can also win through cards like Test of Endurance or Felidar Sovereign, which grant victory based on life thresholds. The combo of Exquisite Blood with any damage-dealing lifegain card can result in infinite damage.
A drawback of the deck is that it often lacks major threats. While you can generate many tokens, they are usually not intimidating. Thus, opponents may not feel pressured to avoid attacking unless cards like Dictate of Erebos are in play.
Utilize stalling cards like Authority of the Consuls and Blind Obedience to slow down your opponents and buy time to reach your win conditions.
