What is Soul Sisters?
Soul Sisters is a Modern monowhite life gain deck that uses its namesake cards, Soul's Attendant and Soul Warden, to power up creatures such as Ajani's Pridemate and Serra Ascendant. It has had moderate success in Modern, and while not a Tier 1 deck, hovers around Tier 1.5.
Alright, Cool. Why should I play Soul Sisters?
Soul Sisters is a very resilient deck that can win out of nowhere. The 8 copies of Soul's Attendant/Soul Warden can turn a card such as Spectral Procession into a huge card advantage engine, can pump an Ajani's Pridemate to a 6/6 or higher by turn 3, and turn a matchup in your favor by gaining one life for each Deceiver Exarch that a Twin opponent puts into play. The neat combo of Martyr of Sands and Serra Ascendant can put a 6/6 lifelink flier on the board and ready to attack by turn 2. What other deck can do that?
So What's in the Deck, Then?
I'm glad you asked! Let's get to it, shall we?
The Sisters
(An honorable mention goes here to Auriok Champion, which, while played as Soul Sisters 9-12 in some decks, did not make the cut in mine.)
Soul's Attendant and Soul Warden are the engines of the deck. They produce the incremental lifegain that powers Ajani's Pridemate and Serra Ascendant, our two main win-cons. They are also very useful against many decks that we would otherwise have a bad matchup with: UR Delver and Splinter Twin. Every time UR Delver's Young Pyromancer makes a token, each one of our sisters gains life and pumps the pridemate! A single sister prevents Splinter Twin from comboing off with Deceiver Exarch, and two do the same to Pestermite. With 8 copies total, this happens more often than not.
Martyr-Ascendant Combo
While both cards are useful to the deck on their own, Martyr of Sands and Serra Ascendant provide a unique combo that can swing games in your favor very quickly. Imagine this opening hand: Martyr of Sands, Serra Ascendant, two Plains and 4 white cards. On turn one, you play a plains and Ascendant, then pass. Turn two, you play a plains. Then, you play Martyr and sacrifice it to reveal 4 (or more) white cards from your hand. You're now at 32 life and you can swing in for 6 with your new pseudo-angel to knock the opponent down to 14 and you up to 38. This hand works with only 3 other white cards, too, requiring you to play Martyr first so that it can reveal Ascendant and 3 others on the second turn and get it swinging by the 3rd.
Win Cons
The two main wincons in our deck, excluding the aforementioned and already covered Serra Ascendant are Archangel of Thune, Ajani's Pridemate and Spectral Procession. The last two have insane synergy with the Sisters, and can win the game single-handedly. Spectral Procession becomes even better when you have Honor of the Pure out, and Ajani's Pridemate benefits from each Sister triggering individually. The cards work even better when together, too! Imagine this: All you have on board is two Sisters and a 2/2 Pridemate. Play Spectral Procession, and you are now 6 life healthier, with an 8/8 Pridemate and 3 1/1 fliers! Not bad, eh? Archangel of Thune is already an insane card OUTSIDE of a lifegain-centric deck. Put it in a deck that will be triggering its counters ability multiple times per turn and you have an easy route to victory.
Card Advantage
Soul Sisters has a very strong early game. That doesn't mean it can't have a strong mid and late game, too! Ranger of Eos and Squadron Hawk produce 3 and 4 creatures, respectively. Ranger can fetch two Sisters if you are behind in life, or two Ascendants if you are ahead. Squadron Hawk applies a seemingly never ending stream of pressure that flies overhead and can block a flipped Delver.
The Rest
Path to Exile, a format staple, needs very little introduction. Often, the only thing blocking your road to victory is a pesky Tarmogoyf or a Pestermite threatening to go off. Path to Exile can snipe your opponent's best creature, at the cost of giving them a free Rampant Growth. I'd rather have my opponent have a basic than a 'goyf, what about you? Honor of the Pure is an all-star in this deck, doubling the pressure given by (Squadron Hawks) and Spectral Procession, and putting your Pridemate one step closer to being out of Lightning Bolt range.
Sideboard
Brave the Elements is an auto-sideboard against Burn and Zoo, and it can also help against a control deck that is Anger of the Gods heavy. Leyline of Sanctity also hoses burn and can also blank Thoughtseize and Inquisition of Kozilek from Jund. Suppression Field stops the combos of Twin and Pod, and Rest in Peace is one of the best graveyard hosers in the format. Immortal Servitude can be a surprise against many control decks with lots of sweepers, just make sure not to bring it in with Rest in Peace. Stony Silence and Sundering Growth help out against one of our worse matchups, Affinity. Finally, Dryad Militant is a one mana, 2/1 answer to Snapcaster Mage.
Without further ado, the deck list!
Strengths and Weaknesses
Strengths:
- Resilient deck with very good matchups against combo decks that care about your life total, like Scapeshift and Storm
- Makes burn decks have to count to 50 or so, as opposed to 20.
- Soul Warden and Soul's Attendant fight against combos that care about creatures entering the battlefield or having lots of creatures.
- Many 2, 3 and 4 for one cards such as Ranger of Eos and Squadron Hawk.
- A mana curve that mostly tops out at 3 makes it hard to be mana screwed.
Weaknesses:
- Has an abysmal matchup against Infect for obvious reasons
- Has trouble living through a pyroclasm pre-board
- Sometimes weak to Thoughtseize
- Difficult matchup against Control and Tron
That's it for this time! Leave a comment or two, will you?
6 Comments
An interesting possible addition to the list for modern is Reveillark. The elemental adds some resilience vs mass removal and provides a large evasive body for a reasonable cost. You can also turn all that life gain into direct damage by adding red in the form of Searing Meditation. This card may seem a bit expensive as you have to pay to get the trigger but 2 damage for 2 mana is nothing to sneeze at. And while you are on that riff you can try the white extort cards for added value.
The Soul Sisters archetype has been around a long, long time with quite an interesting history. There is a lot to explore when tinkering with the concept. (See my recent article "Summertime Blues (& Greens)" concerning Genesis Chamber in Vintage which was based on Oliver Law's article just prior to my own. here: http://puremtgo.com/articles/becoming-modern-man-wr-genesis-chamber)
Out of the sideboard, Immortal Servitude is better after sweepers. While Reveillark can return 2, Servitude returns your entire graveyard. Stack the triggers right and you gain a whole lot of life. Imagine coming back after a sweeper by gaining absurd life and 3 active Serra Ascendants.
I am not going to argue against the merits of Immortal Servitude one of my pet cards. But Reveillark serves a different purpose.
Quick question then. Where would you fit Reveillark into the Soul Sister's shell?
Fair question, probably in the Dryad Militant's slot.
Do you think this could find a spot in the deck?