All the paltry life-gain in this deck seems rather useless...and then, Sanguine Bond goes into effect.

Strategies
This deck's purpose is twofold: firstly, to gain life, as most of my other decks do, and secondly, to bleed the opponent of the amount of life I'm gaining. Sanguine Bond, of course, is the major player, but an unexpected ally card in this case is Boon Reflection. Suddenly, I'm gaining DOUBLE the life...and thusly, you lose double the life. A simple concept, but quite deadly once every piece of the combo is on the field. Children of Korlis is a surprise kill strike on occasion, since stompy decks can often deal lots of pain to me. If Sanguine Bond's in effect when I sack Children of Korlis, suddenly, the opponent finds himself or herself nearer 0 than perhaps intended. :D Lastly, the Isochron Scepters make it possible to Scepter-Burst/Scepter-Passage, Scepter-Day, or Scepter-Rest every turn for extra life and extra pain. And if I absolutely need the mana, Scepter-Ritual works wonders.

Weaknesses
This deck does build up rather slowly. Both of its major combo pieces cost 5 mana, so I'm waiting till at least turn 6 to do most of the super damage. I also don't have many creatures in the deck that can block effectively, so I have to be careful not to lose too much life before I can get the combo out.

Deck History
I never, ever thought I would play Black, ever. I didn't really find much in the color that I liked--I didn't care for the undead crap and the ghoulish skeleton imagery didn't really appeal to me either. Then (oh, happy day!) I said to my boyfriend, "If Black had life-gain, I might give it a shot." His response? "Heard of the new card called Sanguine Bond?" I sure hadn't. When I read its ability, a slow, subtle, and deadly smile spread across my face. I certainly had enough life-gain cards in my arsenal to make it well worth playing. (And once I realized that it combo'ed nicely with another favorite White card (Boon Reflection), the deck was off and running, and I haven't looked back since.)

This deck lumbered along at a painfully-slow pace for several months--I struggled with its mechanics, often feeling so frustrated with its inability to make its combo work that I wanted to throw box and all across the room. Finally, I spoke of my problems to one of my friends, whom I had momentarily forgotten was a master of playing Black. To my whining about "not getting the cards I need" and "never getting the right amount/color of mana," he simply replied, "Tried Demonic Tutor or Dark Rit yet?"

I hadn't. Once I did, though... :D there was happy.