Lyra, Archangel of Dawn Is a Sweet New Angels & Lifelink Commander

Lyra Dawnbringer is a classic Angel Commander, and she gets a mirrored-pair in Reality Fracture. One of those cards makes a compelling alternative to Giada as a premier option for a new lifelink and Angels based deck.

LYRA, ARCHANGEL OF DAWN AND LYRA, TOLARIAN ARCHANGEL

Lyra, Archangel of Dawn is cheaper than her previous five mana outing, coming in at three mana for a 3/3 flyer. She puts a counter on each Angel you control whenever you gain life. Her mirrored-pair counterpart, Lyra, Tolarian Archangel, imagines that in Jace’s multiverse, she spent her time at the Tolarian Academy, which didn’t end up sacked. 

We’re interesting in lifegain and Angels, so let’s look more at mono-white Lyra.

Her closest analogue is Archangel of Thune, an Angel that puts counters on each of your creatures whenever you gain life. Archangel of Thune is a powerful card and having access to something similar in the command zone is exceedingly good. Oh, and the banger artwork helps, right? Phenomenal. 

The two main options aside from this version of Llyra are the old version of Lyra, Lyra Dawnbringer, and Giada, Font of Hope.  Where Giada wants you to curve out with low-cost Angels and Lyra 5 wants to come down as your curve topper, New Lyra asks you instead to focus on gaining life and hitting big. Let’s focus on where she plays differently to existing options.

LYRA OFFERS A FRESH APPROACH

First up, you’re going to want to play Soul Sisters. These are the cheapest and most readily available forms of repetitive life gain, and while gaining big chunks of life can still be good, the most value will be found in triggering single instances over time. Soul Warden and Soul’s Attendant are the strongest here by far; if just one creature enters play on each player’s board in a turn cycle, that’s four counters on each of your Angels.  That’s a lot of damage! 

Guide of Souls can still be good too of course, especially because it will turn your non-Angels into Angels who will then benefit from the +1/+1 counters.

Auriok Champion is one of my favorite picks here because it triggers every turn for anybody’s creature, and the pro black and red comes up surprisingly often for blocks and even attacks. You can also play the new Liliana, who will give you life for your own creatures entering, and comes with a repeatable protection ability that also leans into White’s ability to do reanimation. 

Arguably the most important card in the deck is Righteous Valkyrie, which gives the lifegain, an anthem, and can receive counters itself. 

PLAYING THE LIFEGAIN CARD

What makes running a life gain deck so much easier these days is all of the access to great card draw. Haliya and The Gaffer are two such examples that don’t set the bar too high – though don’t forget with cheap flyer comes the opportunity to run card draw equipment. 

A card the fits exactly into what we’re trying to do is Exemplar of Light, which not only puts counters on itself when we gain life, but also draws us a card, once each turn. Combined with a Soul Sister effect, that’s a lot of card draw.

Inspiring Overseer can feel… uninspiring, in some lists. Even in a Giada list, it’s not the most exciting card to topdeck. Here, though, it not only draws a card, but triggers Lyra, and grows into a 3/2. Alongside a Shattered Angel to gain life off of opponents playing lands, you have some good extra lifegain. 

Don’t forget to consider ways you can add incidental lifegain to effects you already want. Scroll of Avacyn can make an Angel token with the right token producer in play with that chunk of life, while also solving Case of the Uneaten Feast. 

THE PAYOFFS

Like with other Angels decks, you can play the token creators. Resplendent Angel and Angelic Accord are that much better when your deck is all-in on gaining life, which it kinda should be with Lyra at the helm. 

You also get to play other big payoffs for lifegain and counters, like Elenda’s Hierophant and Nykthos Paragon. The former can detonate into a token army of lifelinkers when it inevitably dies, and the latter allows for big counter buffing whenever a big source of life happens – such as Bishop of Wings.

With all of the extra counters Lyra gains, she’ll be a viable Commander damage outlet. It doesn’t take much for her to get into two-hit range, so prioritize protection spells and equipment if you want to use her in this way. Adding a Sting, Bilbo’s Sword for a surprise aerial lethal can go a long way here, as can running Excalibur, Sword of Eden if your legendary and mana rock count is high. 

Given your strategy, this unlocks the likes of Light of Promise, Luxior, Giada’s Gift, and Excalibur II, to double up the payoffs on the main gameplan of your deck.

END STEP

Lyra, Archangel of the Dawn adds another possible Angels Commander, and another lifegain Commander, for mono white strategies. She offers something a little different here to existing Commanders, and while the decklists are likely to share quite a few cards, you do get to concentrate more firmly on Soul Sister cards and Commander damage kills. 

Is this enough to set her apart from Giada, Font of Hope? Or are you more interested in Lyra, Tolarian Archangel? Maybe you’re just running Linvala, Shield of Sea Gate, and you’re excited to run both Lyra cards in an Azorious Flyers list. Let us know on socials.