W/g Soul Sisters

[4eak]

I recently made this deck, and it has been fun to play. I thought I'd share with anyone who is interested.

//Land - 22
4 Cavern of Souls
4 Sunpetal Grove
3 Gavony Township
4 Temple Garden
7 Plains

// Life Gain
4 Auriok Champion
4 Soul Warden
4 Soul's Attendant
4 Martyr of Sands

// Beats for Life
4 Serra Ascendant
4 Ajani's Pridemate

// Draw Engine
4 Sky Hussar

// Toolbox
3 Time of Need
1 Hokori, Dust Drinker
1 Linvala, Keeper of Silence
1 Thrun, the Last Troll
1 Mangara of Corondor
1 Rhys the Redeemed
1 Rune-Tail, Kitsune Ascendant
1 Trostani, Selesnya's Voice

SB: 2 Proclamation of Rebirth
SB: 2 Oblivion Ring
SB: 2 Stony Silence
SB: 2 Suppression Field
SB: 1 Kataki, War's Wage
SB: 1 Heliod, God of the Sun
SB: 1 Melira, Sylvok Outcast
SB: 1 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
SB: 1 Michiko Konda, Truth Seeker
SB: 1 Dosan the Falling Leaf
SB: 1 Gaddock Teeg

The core of the deck is Soul Sisters (or whatever people are calling it these days). It oddly makes a creature-based control deck. A lot of aggro and burn based decks are slowed down considerably by this tactic, but it also does weird things against decks which make infinite tokens (Twins, for example). Champion is amazing. The deck also has a legit beatdown gameplan with Ascendant and Pridemate. Ultimately, I ended up taking a lot of what I felt were shitty cards out, leaving only this core.

Hussar is an amazing draw engine. I'm always sad not to see one in my hand every single game. You rarely attack with the life gaining creatures, and this engine makes use of that fact. Manaless, repeated, uncounterable card draw is exactly what this deck wants. Snowballing into massive CA is great for deck that often plays a control role.

I've also added green to the deck (maybe someone has done this before, I don't know). It does some powerful stuff.

First, it gives you Gavony Township. If you don't have the immediate Martyr/Ascendant or giant Ajani by turn 3, you often curl up into a defensive control role, and getting to 5 lands (and more) is quite common. Township let's you really make use of your mana supply, and it makes playing with your weenie(s) more enjoyable.

Second, adding green gives us access to a great tutor card in Time of Need. There are some fairly powerful silver-bullet, utility, and hatebear Legendary creatures in this format, and we can make use of them. I've found this to be far stronger than the traditional Ranger tutor effect. We can also have a sideboard which can nicely target many decks. Cavern of Souls can also help us force them through permission as well.

Imho, the weakest card in the deck is often Martyr. When it isn't giving me an explosive t2 lifegain play, I often wish it was Suture Priest. Trostani can also be meh, but sometimes I just need to get more lifegain going (Rhys and Trostani can quickly put you out of reach); Teeg may just be better (handling Sweepers and other bombs is nice). Also, the manabase probably needs some work. I'm interested in any thoughts or ideas.


peace,
4eak

[Davran]

If you're going g/w is some number of Horizon Canopy worth thinking about? Paying 1 life for colored mana seems like not a big deal while on the Soul Sisters plan, and "cycling" your mid/late game Canopies could be helpful.

[bakofried]

Could the tutor targets be trimmed down? It seems like you'd want just a few to avoid dead draws. Also, if you want a 2 mana tutor, have you considered Glittering Wish?

[4eak]

Canopy is tricky, particularly when you have to rely upon it but need 30 for ascendant. Might still be worth running some though.

Tutor targets are a work in progress. They generally don't make dead draws (the CC curve is fine in that respect - I usually want to see one of them in my hand). I tend to trim down based upon on whether or not I tutor for cards. Some are simply too narrow though, and while they aren't dead, they aren't worthy in the main.

These can been pretty fantastic for me as targets:

Mangara of Corondor (http://deckbox.org/mtg/Mangara%20of%20Corondor)
Rhys the Redeemed (http://deckbox.org/mtg/Rhys%20the%20Redeemed)
Rune-Tail, Kitsune Ascendant (http://deckbox.org/mtg/Rune-Tail,%20Kitsune%20Ascendant)
Gaddock Teeg (http://deckbox.org/mtg/Gaddock%20Teeg)

The rest are less impressive, and I don't tutor for them nearly as often.

What targets do you think belong in the main?

I definitely considered Glittering Wish. These all catch my eye:

Sky Hussar
Kitchen Finks
Glare of Subdual
Geist of Saint Traft
Qasali Pridemage
Gaddock Teeg
Rhys the Redeemed

I'm sure there are many others as well. I will try it out. Any other suggestions for Wish targets?

Not sure if they are powerful though. Several of the legends are very hard to come back from.


peace,
4eak

[Mr. Safety]

I feel like Spectral Procession and Glare of Subdual would be some cool tech.

[arktos22]

Hey 4eak,

I've been following your decks for awhile. Big fan. Anyway, do you think this is more competitive than your old, mono-white list?

// Lands - 20
20 Plains

// Lifegain - 16
4 Soul's Attendant
4 Soul Warden
4 Auriok Champion
4 Suture Priest

// Life Combo and Utility - 8
4 Phyrexian Metamorph
4 Leonin Relic-Warder

// Win Cons - 8
4 Serra Ascendant
4 Ajani's Pridemate

// Card Advantage - 8
4 Ranger of Eos
4 Mentor of the Meek

// Sideboard
SB: 4 Mark of Asylum
SB: 3 Proclamation of Rebirth
SB: 4 Relic of Progenitus
SB: 4 Oblivion Ring

The g/w version definitely has more answers, but that infinite life combo is very nice too since so many decks auto-lose to it.

Also, I wonder if Brigid, Hero of Kinsbaile is worth a slot in the g/w version. She demands an answer against goblins and probably some other decks.

Finally, Sky Hussar seems like an inevitable replacement/update for Ranger or Mentor in the monowhite version. I plan on testing between the 3 of them to see which deserves the slot.

Thanks for the list. I'm anxious to try this out.

edit: how do I "link" to cards so you can hover to show them? lol.

[FTW]

I really like the green splash.

For some time, I've been seeing Soul Sisters as better suited to a creature-based control role (engine naturally resisting burn, aggro, Twin, Pod) than an aggro-role (as the lists with Honor of the Pure, Spectral Procession, etc.). I used Sky Hussar in monowhite and really loved it, founding it always had dorks to tap and the card advantage was amazing. Glad to see it here in full force.

I think green adds a lot. You get the perks of playing Anthems, but without having to run bad slots in your deck. This opens more deck slots to control roles while still letting you win by beating down with Sisters.

As for your tutor package, for what matchups do you prioritize each one and do you find any are not carrying their weight enough to be worth a maindeck slot?

Seems like you'd want 3-4 Thalia maindeck, since you run almost 0 non-creature spells main (just Time of Need, and if you need to play that on turn 2 for 1G then you're clearly not playing Thalia on turn 2 so there's not really much anti-synergy) and why not get free value out of punishing every other deck in the format?

Any thought to the 1GW 3/3 that makes all your guys indestructible in the SB? Dauntless Escort I think? Seems like a good reason to splash green, countering the inevitable mass removal post-board. Teeg is probably also amazing, shutting off Supreme Verdict already. I guess Rune-Tail handles Pyroclasm effects, but if you never make it to 30 life, awkward. Forgetenders or Escorts seem useful then.

[4eak]

@Arktos22

I'm not sure about Soul Sisters as a deck. I've been trying several variants. I think a green splash is likely worthwhile if Soul Sisters is worthwhile. At the very least, I think adding green can't hurt. If you like the infinite life combo, you can certainly keep it even if you add green.

After playing many variants, I'm almost convinced that Bant is the correct evolution of the deck.

I'd never even considered Brigid. There certainly are decks can have a rough time against it.

Sky Hussar owns the slot. Ranger of some number might still be keepable, but Mentor just isn't worth it.

As for linking, [ cards ]Card name here[ /cards ], with no spacing in the brackets.


@FTW

I did try the extra Thalias. They are powerful. In some ways, the weakest part of the deck is the soul sisters part. It may be better to just and Wg or Bant version of Death and Taxes, with hatebears, tutors, and bombs.



peace,
4eak