Am I the guy who has to point out that Signal Pest does absolutely nothing alone? Battlecry gives other attacking creatures the +1/+0 so its still a 0/1. It gains no power and toughness boost from Honor of the Pure because it isn't white. I myself am not a fan of either Pest or Mikaeus, the Lunarch as both seem like win more targets. They won't pull you ahead if you are behind or give you extra time to draw into an answer.
Why is there suddenly an interest in Proclamation of Rebirth again? The main purpose of Proc is to recur Martyr of Sands (sometimes Serra Ascendant) not Attendant or Warden. Its good if you are trying to gain large amounts of life (which is what the Martyr-Proc deck tries to do. Soul Sisters prefers to repeatably gain life rather than in large amounts at once.) Also its pretty rare for this deck to have multiple targets for Proc on turn 3. Proc gets better as the game goes on. As an aggro-midrange deck you don't really want long games. Against Control, it may be a good card as you can Forecast it to be uncounterable and get back some creatures if they tap out. Immortal Servitude also serves this function but is more flexible in targets despite costing more.
Spear of Heliod vs Path of Bravery. I am firmly in the Spear camp. I much prefer an unconditional +1/+1 to one that may grow my creatures. Most games I tend to hover between 16-24 life, I don't want to risk not having the +1/+1. I have been hurt by my opponent bolting me down below 30 midcombat to kill my Ascendants. The removal ability actually proved useful for me in a few games taking down some Scoozes and a Goyf. We only have 4 pieces of spot removal, its always nice to have more. (Bonus in that it can actually kill Emrakul if you survive the hit with enough mana)
I've said this many times and I'll say it again: I win far more games with Spirit Tokens and Squadron Hawks than with Pridemates and Ascendants.
Though I did attend GP Richmond I don't think I'll be posting a full tournament report because 1: it would be really, really long and 2: I don't remember too much in detail. I went 3-5-1 and obviously did not qualify for day two.
Wins: Affinity, Jund, MonoBlack aggro
Losses: UR Twin, Melira Pod, UW Control Brew, UWR Midrange, UW Gifts Tron
Ties: Melira Pod
I won against my creature based match ups and lost to Combo and Control. My Combo losses were mostly because after mulls to 4 and 5 I didn't draw into any of my 6-10 pieces of Combo hate. Control, I need to work on the matchup and figure out how to properly side against them. I had brought in Chalice of Life which proved pretty useless as it was far too slow and had little to no impact whatsoever. I am open for suggestions on how to beat Control decks as I am struggling to do so.
The MVP for the GP I would say were the Runed Halos I picked up on the advice of Patrick Chapin cutting Sundering Growths from the sideboard. They won me a game vs Twin, aided against Jund and most hilariously, completely destroyed the Monoblack deck as the only threat they seemed to draw into was Bloodghast. I had mostly picked them up for the Scapeshift and Storm match ups. They are actually good against almost every combo deck if you can blank their win condition. Unfortunately you can't name a Token so it won't stop Empty the Warrens You can also bring them in against Aggro decks just to mess with their creatures like I did against the Monoblack list. Naming their best creatures is always fun and acts as pseudo-removal essentially giving them defender.
Some highlights:
2 Pridemates with power and toughness over 4 million.
Making the Twin player dig down to about a dozen cards left in his deck to find enough Flame Slashes and Izzet Charms to kill all of my Sisters.
Bluffing my Pod opponent into agreeing to a draw even though he had me dead on board.
The aforementioned Runed Halo on Bloodghast.
Nearly half of my opponents having to read Squadron Hawk to see what it does.
Things I took away from the GP:
9 Rounds is a long time I missed so many triggers because I wasn't focusing enough. I actually forgot to attack against Twin one turn and that cost me the game. They found Splinter Twin to make infinite blocking Pestermites shortly afterwards. Iona, Shield of Emeria is a completly and utterly backbreaking card coming out of Gifts or UW Tron.
My Control matchup is horrid. People who have more experience playing vs Control I implore you to share your wisdom and strategies on how to beat those lists. My only wins against them were because I kept drawing into a constant source of threats and had more beaters than they had removal.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
"If we don't know what we are doing, the enemy certainly can't anticipate our future actions!"
-Anonymous
The Chalice of Life are for Control matchups especially UWR. Because post board they will likely be bringing in additional removal for your creatures having an alternative angle of attack is wise. Back when I played GB Infect in Standard Contagion Clasp won me many control games so I'm applying the same principles I used back then here, having a hard to remove clock that works with your deck's original plan. Some players may bring in Wear // Tear to kill Honors post board, but the majority will focus on creature hate. Whats nice about the Chalices is that in addition to providing a very fast clock once flipped into Chalice of Death it can also get us close to having an active Serra Ascendant and grow our Pridemates at instant speed.
The greatest challenges when playing the Chalice will be getting it to resolve and not forgetting to use it each turn.
I'm still worried about the Scapeshift matchup, I don't think it will be something I can just hope to dodge unlike some other decks I have in mind.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
"If we don't know what we are doing, the enemy certainly can't anticipate our future actions!"
-Anonymous
Knight is decent but flyers from Spectral Procession tend to be better against more decks than a 2/2 first strikers, especially with Zoo on the rise.
I know a lot of people love Brave the Elements but I'm still not that big of a fan. Also Sisters doesn't need Blind Obedience to beat aggro decks. If you are bringing it in to hate against Twin decks, Suppression Field does pretty much the exact same thing, and it hits multiple other decks as well.
So as I promised earlier this is the list I'll be bringing with me to GP Richmond:
The one thing I may change in my list is the 2 Sundering Growths. I'm still tempted to replace one with an Ethersworn Canonist or additional Leyline of Sanctity. While both are good against Storm, I mostly want them as extra hate against Living End and Scapeshift respectively. I may just cut my Growths altogether for 1 Canonist and a second Leyline (if I can pick up another Leyline before deck registration.)
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
"If we don't know what we are doing, the enemy certainly can't anticipate our future actions!"
-Anonymous
Against Scapeshift our best sideboard card is Aven Mindcensor. Leyline of Sanctity is also good and I'm considering running a second or third copy in my sideboard but I don't know what I'd take out.
Ghost Quarter if used correctly can stifle Valakut triggers. This works because Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle's triggered ability has an "intervening 'if' clause." That means (1) the ability won't trigger at all unless, at the time a Mountain enters the battlefield under your control, you control five or more Mountains other than that new one, and (2) the ability will do nothing if you control fewer than five Mountains other than that new one by the time it resolves. What this means is that if we Ghost Quarter them down to 5 or fewer mountains in response to the first Valakut trigger and they don't have any more basic Mountains to find, all but the first Valakut trigger will be countered upon resolution when they don't see enough Mountains.
In this regard Tectonic Edge is better because your opponent doesn't get to search for a new land. However, Ghost Quarter is superior in Tron and Amulet of Vigor match ups because you don't have to wait for them to get a 4th land and those lists tend to run fewer basic lands.
My sideboard is mostly 2'ofs though I bring in 4-8 cards depending on the matchup. The reason for this is because it helps play around Echoing Truth.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
"If we don't know what we are doing, the enemy certainly can't anticipate our future actions!"
-Anonymous
As a maindeck hatebear against searches I run 2 Aven Mindcensors and as such I have 2 Auriok Champions in my sideboard.
Because it finally came in the mail I now get to use a Cavern of Souls at GP Richmond most of the time it will be naming Human or Soldier.
Going to go down to 3 Ghost Quarters in my 75 so I can use Cavern. I don't want to cut a Plains as that would hurt Spectral Procession.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
"If we don't know what we are doing, the enemy certainly can't anticipate our future actions!"
-Anonymous
Its easy only if they aren't running more than 2 Valakuts, but even then we do have to up our lifegain considerably. You need to get above 36 life to survive the minimum amount of damage from 2 Valakuts. A lot of lists are running Primeval Titan as an alternative win condition so we do have to keep in the Paths, we can't just cut them for better hate.
Ghost Quarter in response to Valakut triggers can kill their 6th mountain which can stifle everything after the first trigger but they can get an extra mountain off of GQ which will save their win con.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
"If we don't know what we are doing, the enemy certainly can't anticipate our future actions!"
-Anonymous
Why do people keep saying Scapeshift doesn't do enough damage? 7 lands will be 18 damage which doesn't kill us but 8 or higher is exponential. 8 lands is 32 damage, 9 is 54. They are able to do more than enough damage to kill us if we don't win fast enough.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
"If we don't know what we are doing, the enemy certainly can't anticipate our future actions!"
-Anonymous
Personally I bring in Auriok Champion against almost every aggro deck. Additional life gain is always nice because it increases the chance of a giant Pridemate. Not dying to removal and chump blocking for days is just a nice bonus.
I have been tempted to cut them out entirely though either for more leylines or some grafdigger's cages in the side.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
"If we don't know what we are doing, the enemy certainly can't anticipate our future actions!"
-Anonymous
GP Richmond coming up and I'm actually able to make it.
I'm expecting the big 3 decks to be Twin, Pod, and Zoo with UWR Control and Affinity coming in a close 4th and 5th.
The only thing I still hate aboutthe mindcensor is that it stifles our own Ranger of Eos. I really hate interactions like this that hurt a deck itself. Have you ever had trouble with mindcensor in this way?
Aven Mindcensor specifically says "If an opponent would search a library" it does nothing to harm your Rangers or your Hawks.
In fact, Mindcensor is good in the mirror because it will hit your opponent's Rangers and Hawks.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
"If we don't know what we are doing, the enemy certainly can't anticipate our future actions!"
-Anonymous
Mindcensor is either really good or only ok depending on the matchup.
It helps game one against Pod, Scapeshift and Tron and can randomly stifle a fetch land.
I've used it to turn Ghost Quarters into Strip Mines and improve Paths but yes, in a lot of matchups its just a 2/1 flier with flash which isn't a bad thing.
Its a decent surprise blocker and can randomly give you an extra +1/+1 counter on Pridemate.
If used correctly it seriously hurts an opponent's mana base. I've locked a UR Delver player to 2 mana because of it.
Mindcensors are mostly a meta choice if you expect a lot of fetches and searches its good, otherwise Auriok Champion fits better.
Its probably the card I side out the most as against many decks its just a 2/1 flier with flash which doesn't mean much game 2 and 3.
I run 6 Sisters and 3 Martyrs in my Mainboard and 2 Auriok Champions in the sideboard. While I don't get an opening with Pridemate + Sister as often as I'd like I still have a pretty good win percentage.
My overall competitive record between FNMS and GP Trials is 13-5-3 so a 62% win rate and I intend to bring my list to GP Richmond in a few weeks, I just need to decide on my sideboard.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
"If we don't know what we are doing, the enemy certainly can't anticipate our future actions!"
-Anonymous
Round 1 vs U/R Delver
Game 1: He was a bit stuck on land especially after I used Mindcensor in response to his fetch. They spent the first few turns just cantripping so I had assumed they were on either Twin or Storm. The only creature I saw that game was a Young Pyromancer. They scooped after I flipped an Honor off of Heights in response to their blocks completely screwing up their combat math.
Game 2: Turn 1 Delver into turn 2 flip. They were able to get out an early Young Pyromancer and I just wound up overwhelmed by Insectile Aberrations and Elementals.
Game 3: Was a bit slow on getting lands and I had to go through 3 Remands just to land a Pridemate. Sisters can do fine off of just 2 lands so long as you have things to play. I already had out 2 Sisters so was able to get in some damge. They managed to top deck into Ignite Disorder which bought them a few more turns but Ascendants + Hawks + Honor win games.
1-0
Round 2 vs Mono Red Blood Moon
Game 1: I did get hit with a fairly early Volcanic Fallout, but, well 2 Honors + Spear of Heliod wins games fast. Against a deck with lots of nonbasics they have a great match up and can get turn 1 Blood Moon out with Spirit Guide + Desperate Ritual.
Game 2: They managed to get a turn 2 Koth out using the play described above and ulted him pretty quickly. It took me a few turns before I was able to get a decent amount of life from Martyr after which I was able to comfortably beat down with twin 6/6 Fliers. I had plenty of threats and was able to tie down their mana quite nicely. They made a serious punt when they -2'ed Koth of the Hammer forgetting that the Emblem was "Mountains you control have ‘{T}: This land deals 1 damage to target creature or player.'" and not "R: deal 1 damage to target creature or player" They also misplayed a Faithless looting, discarding their third Koth instead of the Mountain they originally planned to.
2-0
Round 3 vs R/G Tron
Game 1: Was able to present a decent threat with active Ascendants and an Honor. That combined with a Ghost Quarter + Mindcensor on their Eye of Ugin turn 4 and on Tower turn 5 greatly contributed to my victory. I did not just dump my hand and was rewarded as I always had a creature to threaten lethal after the Oblivion Stones. All. Three. Of. Them. I just made sure I had enough to kill them in 1-2 turns. This seems to be a major issue for newer Soul Sisters players, they often overextend and get blown out by a Wrath effect or similar. You need to know when to go all in and when to hold back your extra threats.
Game 2: I mulled to 4 and wound up land flooded. A turn 2 Ajani with turn 3 Honor gave me a decent clock especially because they gave me a growth trigger from Grove of the Burnwillows. Unfortunately they did manage to topdeck into Combust and kill my cat the turn it would have been lethal. If I had another Honor or had more counters on it would have lived. They followed that up with 2 Wurmcoils and I just drew more plains.
Game 3: Landed an early Stony Silence and some beats. Did get delayed with a Firespout but managed to kill them anyways. Don't remember much from this match and I don't have any special notes.
3-0
Round 4 vs Storm
Game 1: Presented some nice beats but was not fast enough. The turn before I could deal lethal they stormed out for 20. With 2 Grapeshots.
Game 2: Fast clock of Ascendants and Ajani's. They mistimed their lightning bolt activating it after I already resolved Martyr which cost them the game. Had they bolted my Pridemate before Martyr resolved I would have lost my precious kitty.
Game 3: Turn 0 Leyline. They were unable to kill me at all because their only answer was a single Echoing Truth at the bottom of their deck. They were however able to keep killing all of my creatures with Grapeshot and Bolts. I managed to get him to use both Past in Flames just so he'd have enough storm to kill my guys. We went to time with myself at 18 and him at 3 with neither of us having any threats, well not after I Pathed all 3 Electromancers. If the game had gone longer either of us could have won, it would have depended on how fast I could get a creature vs how fast he can get Truth.
Yes, I kept Path in against Storm. Pathing an Electromancer slows them down a fair amount plus it gets rid of chump blocker. I took out my 2 Mindcensors and a Ranger. Mindcensor isn't good against Storm and Ranger I felt was slow.
3-0-1
Round 5 vs Scapeshift
Game 1: I bring them to 6 with some nice beats in the form of Pridemate and Ascendant + Honor. He then comboes off the turn I present lethal for 81 damage. BOOM.
Game 2: I wind up having to mull to 4 keeping Martyr, Honor, and 2x Plains. This is not a particularly fast clock even though I do draw a Pridemate. I die with Aven Mindcensor and Procession in hand and no third land to play them.
3-1-1
Round 5 vs Scapeshift
We decide to intentionally draw because we felt we had high enough standings to make top 8 (I was 6th going into the final round of Swiss), turns out we were wrong. Did not do the math correctly.
3-1-2
I manage to get 12th place out of roughly 40+ people. Had I played against the second Scapeshift deck I do not feel I could have reliably won. Combo in general is a bad matchup for Soul Sisters as its best against other creature decks. In Game 2 of Round 5 against Scapeshift I might have been able to win if I had a better hand as Soul Sisters can present a very fast clock and they need minimum 8 lands to kill us not the usual 7 against most deck because we have no fetches. 8 lands = 36 damage 9 Lands = 54 10 Lands = 72 etc. You can do some extra math if you'd like.
When Leyline happened it meant I could not lose until it was dealt with so I'm actually considering getting a second or third copy. However the chances of Leyline in your opening hand are pretty slim and its not good in multiples especially because many decks answer it with Echoing Truth. If I expect more combo at GP Richmond I probably will go up to 2 or 3 though. I need to figure out a better sideboard plan against Scapeshift. I do like my Mindcensors and my opponent agreed that it was the card that scared him the most, but I'd prefer a proactive plan. One that has to be dealt with before going off which would buy me more time to kill them.
Honestly with Leyline the only decks I want it against are Storm and 8Rack. The thing about Storm is, I'm not worried about Grapeshot, I'm worried about Empty the Warrens. I can gain a lot of life to stop Grapeshot, but facing an army of Goblin tokens without a board wipe, thats hard.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
"If we don't know what we are doing, the enemy certainly can't anticipate our future actions!"
-Anonymous
Why is there suddenly an interest in Proclamation of Rebirth again? The main purpose of Proc is to recur Martyr of Sands (sometimes Serra Ascendant) not Attendant or Warden. Its good if you are trying to gain large amounts of life (which is what the Martyr-Proc deck tries to do. Soul Sisters prefers to repeatably gain life rather than in large amounts at once.) Also its pretty rare for this deck to have multiple targets for Proc on turn 3. Proc gets better as the game goes on. As an aggro-midrange deck you don't really want long games. Against Control, it may be a good card as you can Forecast it to be uncounterable and get back some creatures if they tap out. Immortal Servitude also serves this function but is more flexible in targets despite costing more.
Spear of Heliod vs Path of Bravery. I am firmly in the Spear camp. I much prefer an unconditional +1/+1 to one that may grow my creatures. Most games I tend to hover between 16-24 life, I don't want to risk not having the +1/+1. I have been hurt by my opponent bolting me down below 30 midcombat to kill my Ascendants. The removal ability actually proved useful for me in a few games taking down some Scoozes and a Goyf. We only have 4 pieces of spot removal, its always nice to have more. (Bonus in that it can actually kill Emrakul if you survive the hit with enough mana)
I've said this many times and I'll say it again: I win far more games with Spirit Tokens and Squadron Hawks than with Pridemates and Ascendants.
Though I did attend GP Richmond I don't think I'll be posting a full tournament report because 1: it would be really, really long and 2: I don't remember too much in detail. I went 3-5-1 and obviously did not qualify for day two.
Wins: Affinity, Jund, MonoBlack aggro
Losses: UR Twin, Melira Pod, UW Control Brew, UWR Midrange, UW Gifts Tron
Ties: Melira Pod
I won against my creature based match ups and lost to Combo and Control. My Combo losses were mostly because after mulls to 4 and 5 I didn't draw into any of my 6-10 pieces of Combo hate. Control, I need to work on the matchup and figure out how to properly side against them. I had brought in Chalice of Life which proved pretty useless as it was far too slow and had little to no impact whatsoever. I am open for suggestions on how to beat Control decks as I am struggling to do so.
The MVP for the GP I would say were the Runed Halos I picked up on the advice of Patrick Chapin cutting Sundering Growths from the sideboard. They won me a game vs Twin, aided against Jund and most hilariously, completely destroyed the Monoblack deck as the only threat they seemed to draw into was Bloodghast. I had mostly picked them up for the Scapeshift and Storm match ups. They are actually good against almost every combo deck if you can blank their win condition. Unfortunately you can't name a Token so it won't stop Empty the Warrens You can also bring them in against Aggro decks just to mess with their creatures like I did against the Monoblack list. Naming their best creatures is always fun and acts as pseudo-removal essentially giving them defender.
Some highlights:
2 Pridemates with power and toughness over 4 million.
Making the Twin player dig down to about a dozen cards left in his deck to find enough Flame Slashes and Izzet Charms to kill all of my Sisters.
Bluffing my Pod opponent into agreeing to a draw even though he had me dead on board.
The aforementioned Runed Halo on Bloodghast.
Nearly half of my opponents having to read Squadron Hawk to see what it does.
Things I took away from the GP:
9 Rounds is a long time I missed so many triggers because I wasn't focusing enough. I actually forgot to attack against Twin one turn and that cost me the game. They found Splinter Twin to make infinite blocking Pestermites shortly afterwards.
Iona, Shield of Emeria is a completly and utterly backbreaking card coming out of Gifts or UW Tron.
My Control matchup is horrid. People who have more experience playing vs Control I implore you to share your wisdom and strategies on how to beat those lists. My only wins against them were because I kept drawing into a constant source of threats and had more beaters than they had removal.
-Anonymous
The greatest challenges when playing the Chalice will be getting it to resolve and not forgetting to use it each turn.
I'm still worried about the Scapeshift matchup, I don't think it will be something I can just hope to dodge unlike some other decks I have in mind.
-Anonymous
I know a lot of people love Brave the Elements but I'm still not that big of a fan. Also Sisters doesn't need Blind Obedience to beat aggro decks. If you are bringing it in to hate against Twin decks, Suppression Field does pretty much the exact same thing, and it hits multiple other decks as well.
So as I promised earlier this is the list I'll be bringing with me to GP Richmond:
4x Ajani's Pridemate
2x Aven Mindcensor
3x Martyr of Sands
3x Ranger of Eos
4x Serra Ascendant
4x Squadron Hawk
3x Soul's Attendant
3x Soul Warden
4x Path to Exile
4x Spectral Procession
Artifacts/Enchantments 5
4x Honor of the Pure
1x Spear of Heliod
Lands 21
1x Cavern of Souls
3x Ghost Quarter
15x Plains
2x Windbrisk Heights
2x Auriok Champion
2x Chalice of Life
2x Kataki, War's Wage
1x Leyline of Sanctity
2x Rest in Peace
2x Stony Silence
2x Sundering Growth
2x Suppression Field
The one thing I may change in my list is the 2 Sundering Growths. I'm still tempted to replace one with an Ethersworn Canonist or additional Leyline of Sanctity. While both are good against Storm, I mostly want them as extra hate against Living End and Scapeshift respectively. I may just cut my Growths altogether for 1 Canonist and a second Leyline (if I can pick up another Leyline before deck registration.)
-Anonymous
Ghost Quarter if used correctly can stifle Valakut triggers. This works because Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle's triggered ability has an "intervening 'if' clause." That means (1) the ability won't trigger at all unless, at the time a Mountain enters the battlefield under your control, you control five or more Mountains other than that new one, and (2) the ability will do nothing if you control fewer than five Mountains other than that new one by the time it resolves. What this means is that if we Ghost Quarter them down to 5 or fewer mountains in response to the first Valakut trigger and they don't have any more basic Mountains to find, all but the first Valakut trigger will be countered upon resolution when they don't see enough Mountains.
In this regard Tectonic Edge is better because your opponent doesn't get to search for a new land. However, Ghost Quarter is superior in Tron and Amulet of Vigor match ups because you don't have to wait for them to get a 4th land and those lists tend to run fewer basic lands.
My sideboard is mostly 2'ofs though I bring in 4-8 cards depending on the matchup. The reason for this is because it helps play around Echoing Truth.
-Anonymous
Still trying to figure out slot 15.
Leyline, Canonist, Thalia, Grafdigger's Cage, Pithing Needle, Hero of Bladehold, Ghost Quarter, Tectonic Edge....
So many choices...
-Anonymous
Because it finally came in the mail I now get to use a Cavern of Souls at GP Richmond most of the time it will be naming Human or Soldier.
Going to go down to 3 Ghost Quarters in my 75 so I can use Cavern. I don't want to cut a Plains as that would hurt Spectral Procession.
-Anonymous
Ghost Quarter in response to Valakut triggers can kill their 6th mountain which can stifle everything after the first trigger but they can get an extra mountain off of GQ which will save their win con.
-Anonymous
-Anonymous
I have been tempted to cut them out entirely though either for more leylines or some grafdigger's cages in the side.
-Anonymous
There isn't really anything I think would be best to go up to a three-of. My other choices for the one-of slot are Thalia, Guardian of Thraben, Grafdigger's Cage, and Ethersworn Canonist.
-Anonymous
I'm expecting the big 3 decks to be Twin, Pod, and Zoo with UWR Control and Affinity coming in a close 4th and 5th.
Based off of this my sideboard is:
2x Chalice of Life
2x Kataki, War's Wage
1x Leyline of Sanctity
2x Rest in Peace
2x Stony Silence
2x Sundering Growth
2x Suppression Field
Any opinions or advice is welcome.
-Anonymous
Aven Mindcensor specifically says "If an opponent would search a library" it does nothing to harm your Rangers or your Hawks.
In fact, Mindcensor is good in the mirror because it will hit your opponent's Rangers and Hawks.
-Anonymous
It helps game one against Pod, Scapeshift and Tron and can randomly stifle a fetch land.
I've used it to turn Ghost Quarters into Strip Mines and improve Paths but yes, in a lot of matchups its just a 2/1 flier with flash which isn't a bad thing.
Its a decent surprise blocker and can randomly give you an extra +1/+1 counter on Pridemate.
If used correctly it seriously hurts an opponent's mana base. I've locked a UR Delver player to 2 mana because of it.
Mindcensors are mostly a meta choice if you expect a lot of fetches and searches its good, otherwise Auriok Champion fits better.
Its probably the card I side out the most as against many decks its just a 2/1 flier with flash which doesn't mean much game 2 and 3.
I run 6 Sisters and 3 Martyrs in my Mainboard and 2 Auriok Champions in the sideboard. While I don't get an opening with Pridemate + Sister as often as I'd like I still have a pretty good win percentage.
My overall competitive record between FNMS and GP Trials is 13-5-3 so a 62% win rate and I intend to bring my list to GP Richmond in a few weeks, I just need to decide on my sideboard.
-Anonymous
List
4x Ajani's Pridemate
2x Aven Mindcensor
3x Martyr of Sands
3x Ranger of Eos
3x Serra Ascendant
4x Squadron Hawk
3x Soul Warden
3x Soul's Attendant
4x Path to Exile
4x Spectral Procession
Artifacts and Enchantments
4x Honor of the Pure
1x Spear of Heliod
Lands
4x Ghost Quarter
2x Windbrisk Heights
15x Plains
2x Auriok Champion
1x Celestial Flare
1x Grafdigger's Cage
2x Chalice of Life
2x Kataki, War's Wage
1x Leyline of Sanctity
2x Rest in Peace
2x Stony Silence
2x Suppression Field
Round 1 vs U/R Delver
Game 1: He was a bit stuck on land especially after I used Mindcensor in response to his fetch. They spent the first few turns just cantripping so I had assumed they were on either Twin or Storm. The only creature I saw that game was a Young Pyromancer. They scooped after I flipped an Honor off of Heights in response to their blocks completely screwing up their combat math.
Game 2: Turn 1 Delver into turn 2 flip. They were able to get out an early Young Pyromancer and I just wound up overwhelmed by Insectile Aberrations and Elementals.
Game 3: Was a bit slow on getting lands and I had to go through 3 Remands just to land a Pridemate. Sisters can do fine off of just 2 lands so long as you have things to play. I already had out 2 Sisters so was able to get in some damge. They managed to top deck into Ignite Disorder which bought them a few more turns but Ascendants + Hawks + Honor win games.
1-0
Round 2 vs Mono Red Blood Moon
Game 1: I did get hit with a fairly early Volcanic Fallout, but, well 2 Honors + Spear of Heliod wins games fast. Against a deck with lots of nonbasics they have a great match up and can get turn 1 Blood Moon out with Spirit Guide + Desperate Ritual.
Game 2: They managed to get a turn 2 Koth out using the play described above and ulted him pretty quickly. It took me a few turns before I was able to get a decent amount of life from Martyr after which I was able to comfortably beat down with twin 6/6 Fliers. I had plenty of threats and was able to tie down their mana quite nicely. They made a serious punt when they -2'ed Koth of the Hammer forgetting that the Emblem was "Mountains you control have ‘{T}: This land deals 1 damage to target creature or player.'" and not "R: deal 1 damage to target creature or player" They also misplayed a Faithless looting, discarding their third Koth instead of the Mountain they originally planned to.
2-0
Round 3 vs R/G Tron
Game 1: Was able to present a decent threat with active Ascendants and an Honor. That combined with a Ghost Quarter + Mindcensor on their Eye of Ugin turn 4 and on Tower turn 5 greatly contributed to my victory. I did not just dump my hand and was rewarded as I always had a creature to threaten lethal after the Oblivion Stones. All. Three. Of. Them. I just made sure I had enough to kill them in 1-2 turns. This seems to be a major issue for newer Soul Sisters players, they often overextend and get blown out by a Wrath effect or similar. You need to know when to go all in and when to hold back your extra threats.
Game 2: I mulled to 4 and wound up land flooded. A turn 2 Ajani with turn 3 Honor gave me a decent clock especially because they gave me a growth trigger from Grove of the Burnwillows. Unfortunately they did manage to topdeck into Combust and kill my cat the turn it would have been lethal. If I had another Honor or had more counters on it would have lived. They followed that up with 2 Wurmcoils and I just drew more plains.
Game 3: Landed an early Stony Silence and some beats. Did get delayed with a Firespout but managed to kill them anyways. Don't remember much from this match and I don't have any special notes.
3-0
Round 4 vs Storm
Game 1: Presented some nice beats but was not fast enough. The turn before I could deal lethal they stormed out for 20. With 2 Grapeshots.
Game 2: Fast clock of Ascendants and Ajani's. They mistimed their lightning bolt activating it after I already resolved Martyr which cost them the game. Had they bolted my Pridemate before Martyr resolved I would have lost my precious kitty.
Game 3: Turn 0 Leyline. They were unable to kill me at all because their only answer was a single Echoing Truth at the bottom of their deck. They were however able to keep killing all of my creatures with Grapeshot and Bolts. I managed to get him to use both Past in Flames just so he'd have enough storm to kill my guys. We went to time with myself at 18 and him at 3 with neither of us having any threats, well not after I Pathed all 3 Electromancers. If the game had gone longer either of us could have won, it would have depended on how fast I could get a creature vs how fast he can get Truth.
Yes, I kept Path in against Storm. Pathing an Electromancer slows them down a fair amount plus it gets rid of chump blocker. I took out my 2 Mindcensors and a Ranger. Mindcensor isn't good against Storm and Ranger I felt was slow.
3-0-1
Round 5 vs Scapeshift
Game 1: I bring them to 6 with some nice beats in the form of Pridemate and Ascendant + Honor. He then comboes off the turn I present lethal for 81 damage. BOOM.
Game 2: I wind up having to mull to 4 keeping Martyr, Honor, and 2x Plains. This is not a particularly fast clock even though I do draw a Pridemate. I die with Aven Mindcensor and Procession in hand and no third land to play them.
3-1-1
Round 5 vs Scapeshift
We decide to intentionally draw because we felt we had high enough standings to make top 8 (I was 6th going into the final round of Swiss), turns out we were wrong. Did not do the math correctly.
3-1-2
I manage to get 12th place out of roughly 40+ people. Had I played against the second Scapeshift deck I do not feel I could have reliably won. Combo in general is a bad matchup for Soul Sisters as its best against other creature decks. In Game 2 of Round 5 against Scapeshift I might have been able to win if I had a better hand as Soul Sisters can present a very fast clock and they need minimum 8 lands to kill us not the usual 7 against most deck because we have no fetches. 8 lands = 36 damage 9 Lands = 54 10 Lands = 72 etc. You can do some extra math if you'd like.
When Leyline happened it meant I could not lose until it was dealt with so I'm actually considering getting a second or third copy. However the chances of Leyline in your opening hand are pretty slim and its not good in multiples especially because many decks answer it with Echoing Truth. If I expect more combo at GP Richmond I probably will go up to 2 or 3 though. I need to figure out a better sideboard plan against Scapeshift. I do like my Mindcensors and my opponent agreed that it was the card that scared him the most, but I'd prefer a proactive plan. One that has to be dealt with before going off which would buy me more time to kill them.
-Anonymous
-Anonymous