Elenda boasts powerful protection and becomes a menacing threat in Vampire decks with life gain
They also have an ability that reads, Whenever a player attacks one of your opponents, if that opponent has more life than another of your opponents, that attacking player draws a card, and you put two +1/+1 counters on a creature you control. While this isnt a traditional approach to a +1/+1 counter deck, having a slightly more political flavor to the whole affair can be a lot of fun
Buying Arena boosters from the store is much faster but less efficient in the long run you'll get fewer cards per gold/gem spent when compared to events, but you'll get them much faster
Ill be evaluating each decks strategy based on the intended face commanders
After he dies, if you need the guy back, sacrifice the Food and bring him back for free, and that doesn't count as your spell for the turn