Xenan Lifeforce Cookout

Xenan lifeforce checks all the boxes of a great deck for the Cookout! event:
- wants to play lots of 1-drops
- preys on aggro decks
- can take 10+ burn to the face and survive
- held back by lack of card draw and weakness to sweepers
I went 7-0 with this version of the deck (5-2 with an earlier version) and it feels very well positioned in a meta consisting mostly of fire-based aggro and Maul decks.

This version goes heavy on the 1-drop life-gain units (Sanctuary Priest, Auralian Restorationist, Arcanum Elite) to get rid of cards against Maul, and run any merchants because I felt they were too slow.
The standard lifeforce win-cons are Cult Aspirant and Katra, the Devoted and they do work here if you can protect them. Razorquill is amazing with Katra, the Devoted even without the infinite combo, but isn't great if you don't have Katra on the board and could potentially be cut. I also run Cabal Slasher as an extra must-block threat and while it normally it trades down, if you can tag it with Arcanum Elite it becomes a real win-con.
In an aggro-dominated meta Suffocate is the best removal in these factions and Extract, while expensive, plays well with the rest of the deck. Ayan, the Abductor is also worth considering.

It may be worth cutting some Amethyst Coins since they can be a little clunky, but having an extra draw every turn does a lot to smooth out the power base.

Also worth noting:
- Some of the lifegain triggers in the deck are activated by onslaught (Arcanum Elite, Amethyst Coin) and can only be used to grow creatures post-combat. Arcanum Elite and Piercing Grief are the best onslaught enablers but I've found myself chump-attacking a few times to be able to grow a Cult Aspirant or Katra.
- Amethyst Coin and Razorquill give the opponent a window to cast Torch (since they deal damage) while the rest of the lifegain triggers do not.