This is a lifegain-drain deck. Cheap creature-entry triggers, upkeep pings and opponent-tax effects produce a steady stream of small lifegain events. Karlov of the Ghost Council turns each event into two +1/+1 counters, then spends six counters at a time to exile threats. The same triggers grow a team of counter creatures, draw cards, and become direct life loss through drain enchantments and creatures. How it wins: It drains opponents out by converting repeated lifegain into life loss, and closes games with the loops between Sanguine Bond or Vito and Exquisite Blood or Bloodthirsty Conqueror, Aetherflux Reservoir's 50-damage shot, or a large evasive counter-fed army. Key roles: - Lifegain trigger sources: Many small, repeatable lifegain events from creatures entering, opponents casting spells or entering creatures, and upkeep pings. Cleric Class adds one to every instance (Soul Warden, Ajani's Welcome, Cleric Class). - Counter growth and removal: Each lifegain grows Karlov of the Ghost Council and other counter creatures, and Karlov cashes in six counters to exile creatures repeatedly (Archangel of Thune, Heliod, Sun-Crowned, Voice of the Blessed). - Drain conversion: Gaining life makes opponents lose life, which turns incidental gains into steady damage (Marauding Blight-Priest, Starscape Cleric, Enduring Tenacity). - Infinite loops: Pairing "lose life, gain life" with "gain life, lose life" creates an unbounded loop, and Aetherflux Reservoir turns a pile of cheap spells into a lethal life total (Sanguine Bond, Exquisite Blood, Aetherflux Reservoir). - Lifegain card advantage: Gaining life refuels the hand through per-gain or threshold draws, while life payments for cards are offset by constant gains (Well of Lost Dreams, The Gaffer, Bolas's Citadel). - Tax and stax pieces: Punishing opponents' spells, searches and creatures both slows them down and feeds the lifegain engine (Kambal, Consul of Allocation, Authority of the Consuls, Blind Obedience).

Karlov of the Ghost Council decklist

• Aetherflux Reservoir
• Arcane Signet
• Bolas's Citadel
• Lightning Greaves
• Orzhov Signet
• Pristine Talisman
• Sol Ring
• Swiftfoot Boots
• Talisman of Hierarchy
• Well of Lost Dreams
• Bojuka Bog
• Brightclimb Pathway
• Caves of Koilos
• Command Tower
• Fetid Heath
• Godless Shrine
• Isolated Chapel
• Marsh Flats
• Orzhov Basilica
• 10× Plains
• Rogue's Passage
• Scoured Barrens
• Shattered Sanctum
• Shineshadow Snarl
• 8× Swamp
• Tainted Field
• Vault of Champions
• Vault of the Archangel
• Archangel of Thune
• Archivist of Oghma
• Auriok Champion
• Blood Artist
• Bloodthirsty Conqueror
• Creeping Bloodsucker
• Elas il-Kor, Sadistic Pilgrim
• Elenda's Hierophant
• Enduring Tenacity
• Esper Sentinel
• Exemplar of Light
• Guide of Souls
• Heliod, Sun-Crowned
• Kambal, Consul of Allocation
• Lotho, Corrupt Shirriff
• Lunarch Veteran
• Marauding Blight-Priest
• Serra Ascendant
• Soul Warden
• Soul's Attendant
• Starscape Cleric
• Sunscorch Regent
• Suture Priest
• Vito, Thorn of the Dusk Rose
• Voice of the Blessed
• Ajani's Welcome
• Authority of the Consuls
• Black Market Connections
• Blind Obedience
• Cleric Class
• Dawn of Hope
• Exquisite Blood
• Phyrexian Arena
• Sanguine Bond
• Smothering Tithe
• Anguished Unmaking
• Despark
• Flawless Maneuver
• Fracture
• Generous Gift
• Path to Exile
• Swords to Plowshares
• Teferi's Protection
• Ajani, Strength of the Pride
• Damn
• Demonic Tutor
• Exsanguinate
• Night's Whisper
• Toxic Deluge
• Niv-Mizzet, Ghost Counsel
• Ajani Resolute
• Sheoldred, the Apocalypse
• Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx
• Everflowing Chalice
• Sensei's Divining Top