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By: Plainswalker83, Plainswalker83
Sep 25 2014 12:00pm
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     I know I just posted about modern last week but a few weeks ago I saw a brew by one of my favorite brewers Sam Black. This deck was a Soul Sisters deck but added black and green to take advantage of a few other powerful cards. Let's check out his list:

     It should come as no surprise that I love this deck. I played Junk Aristocrats last year and that was fantastic. When you combine it with soul sisters it is even better. Sadly I cannot afford half of this deck on MTGO. I will work toward getting the pricey cards but in the meantime I decided to build a more budget friendly. I cut green because that is where most of the cost was, fetches and Voices are pretty expensive. So this is what I settled on.

     Right off the bat the mana needs some work. I need the 4th fetch and 3 more Isolated Chapels but allow me to go through the rest of the deck and explain some of my thought process and why I made certain choices.

Soul Warden Soul's Attendant Blood Artist

    First we have the namesakes of the deck, this is what allows you to gain life to win most races. Blood Artist servers as a 3rd "Sister" but instead if just gaining your life he can drain your opponents as well. He makes verdicts hurt your opponent and even makes chump blocking valuable. But he is in there for another reason and it is these next creatures that really make him impactful.

Viscera Seer Cartel Aristocrat

     These are the sacrifice outlets that help the artist sculpt your opponents life total to 0. They also each have great abilities. Cartel Aristocrat can become unblockable and unkillable. Allowing you to continually bash through unopposed. Viscera Seer allows you to scry giving you the ability to smooth out your draws and sift away what you don't need. The beauty of both of those creatures is that you don't even need Blood Artist for them to be good but they do make him a lot better.

Ajani's Pridemate

    This cool cat gets his own section because he is in the deck for 1 reason only, to beat down your opponent. The synergy he has with the sisters and artist allow him to quickly outclass any other creature that would share the battlefield with him. (Tarmagoyf)? yea he seems good... but Pridemate can get bigger faster. The cat also seems to draw removal pretty quickly allowing your combo pieces to survive and your opponents regretting their decisions.

Lingering Souls Spectral Procession

      These token generators serve multiple purposes. Mostly they are there to be fodder for your sac outlets to allow you to use artist to his utmost potential. Though they can accomplish other things. Lingering Souls is a source of card advantage. 2 spells in 1 is pretty swell and most times you can cast it and flash it back in the same turn. Those 1/1 flyers can close out a game on their own and together with Spectral Procession can allow you to get back into any game by allowing you to chump block and eventually go on the offensive.

Return to the Ranks

      I was waiting for Sam to bust this card out in modern. Obviously every creature in this deck has power 2 and less, that allows for some pretty great returns. Let me set up a few of the common scenarios for you. Your board is:

Blood Artist Viscera Seer Soul Warden Soul's Attendant Cartel Aristocrat Ajani's Pridemate

     You sac each one to draining your opponent and gaining some life. Then you cast Return to the Ranks targeting your sisters first then the other creatures. They all come back in triggering the lifegain and growing your cat. Setting you up for a win the next turn or if their life is low enough you can sac once again to Blood Artist. You can also sac creatures to scry through your deck and dig for a card you are looking for and return them back to the battlefield. Remember that Return has convoke so it can easily be cast to return most of the creatures in your yard, often times using your tokens as a source of mana.

Tragic Slip Path to Exile

      One thing that Sam Black did not have in the main was removal but since I cut a color I had some gaps to fill and I knew I wanted to be able to eliminate pests on the other side of the battlefield. Even in my paper version I will be trying to find room for some removal because there are certain creatures that can really make it hard to win through, say Platinum Angel for example. Tragic Slip fits into this deck perfectly and can remove almost anything. Wurmcoil Engine and persist creatures giving you trouble? Then that is why you need Path to exile it is obviously great for everything else as well.

Tectonic Edge 

     Besides the colored mana I think this is the only non basic needed. Tron can be a huge problem for this deck and being able to take out their Urza lands is very important. I have tossed around putting in a singleton Vault of the Archangel to serve as extra removal in a sense and get you another source of lifegain. I won't attempt that though until I get more sources of colored mana.

     As for the sideboard I just filled it with some of the better cards white and black have to offer. I included a disruption package to help against control and Tron. There is extra removal when you need it and trusty Disenchant for problematic artifacts and enchantments. The other cards I covered in my last article but they are there to help you win some of the other tough match ups. Some other possibilities for the board include:

Sin Collector Fiend Hunter Aven Mindcensor Blade Splicer

      These may just be too cute to use but I do have hope for them. The collector is like a recurring Duress with power to attack as well. I think he can be a really strong sideboard option. Fiend Hunter might not be needed but he can also keep coming back to remove a blocker and a threat from their side of the battlefield.  The bird wizard can also be brought in to help against pod or just against those relying heavily on their fetches. Splicer could even be squeezed into the main as a 1 or 2 of. I have always loved this card and have been wanting to use it more often. You can cast it sac it to something then bring it back with Return. Getting some pretty great first striking golems which can be quite threatening or just amazing blockers.  

    This deck has some favorable matchups including Burn and most Aggro decks. I almost feel bad when I am playing against burn knowing that it can quickly become impossible for them to win. They can kill off some of your creatures but usually it won't matter and you can stabilize and overwhelm them. Other decks like Merfolk, Zoo, and Affinity can be easily handled when you get your sisters going and for the robots when you get to board in Stony Silence it becomes even better. Decks like UWR control, Pod, and Tron can be pretty tough. You do have the tools to beat them though. They can be pretty grindy matchups and you want to make sure you don't remove too many threats when you side in your disruption otherwise you will severely weaken your deck and will not be able to pull out the win. The Jund decks or BGx decks can be a grindy matchup as well but it is another favorable match up. They are all about 1 for 1 removal and disruption and since you have cards like Lingering Souls and Return to the Ranks really give you an advantage over them. Even if they have their own copies of souls like in the Junk decks you still use the spirits more effectively in your deck.                           

    I have not put in a ton of matches with this yet but it does seem solid enough. It is very clear though that the green is needed and really adds to the power level of the deck. But as I stated earlier it is also very pricey and most likely will not fit most budgets. If you have the extra funds then go with Abzan but if you want to try something different and a bit easier on the wallet go with Dark Soul Sisters. Once again thanks for reading and I will gladly answer and questions you have.