I've been having a lot of success with a brew that I've been fine tuning for a little over a year now, not long after Saheeli left standard. Its a Saheeli Evolution Toolbox type deck with a lot of game to it, and its able to compete very well with the Tier 1 decks out there.
The strength of this deck is that it is very versatile and has a lot of different strategies available to it. It can play like a mid-range tempo deck and win the long game with value creatures and blinking interactions from both Felidar Guardian or Saheeli Rai if you only have 1 combo piece. It can also pull out toolbox creatures that are often very close to "i-win-cards", like Thragtusk / Kitchen Finks against burn or anytime life total is a factor. Shalai, Voice of Plenty also against burn, or mill, or discard, or any combo that targets you. Reflector Mage to bounce problematic creatures. Eternal Witness to get a combo piece back. Knight of Autumn for artifact / enchantment destruction (usually), not to mention all the niche toolbox creatures in the sideboard. The deck is also just naturally very strong against most kinds of control decks. With 3 mainboard Teferi, Time Raveler and 4 mainboard Voice of Resurgence, opponents often wont be able to cast on your turn, and if they can they're usually giving you a fat creature from Voice. Teferi not only offers natural combo protection, but he can also bounce any problematic hate card, or just be a solid tempo play on turn 2 or 3.
There's a lot of other good synergy from card interactions like sacing Voice of Resurgence or Kitchen Finks to Eldritch Evolution, since they replace themselves on death. Finks can even be reset after it dies if you have a Felidar Guardian to blink it. Blinking or copying a Thragtusk with either combo piece also feels really good in most matchups too. You can often go from having neither combo piece to winning in 1 turn, for example: if you have an Oath of Nissa out and you draw Felidar Guardian or Eldritch Evolution into a Cat, you can blink the Oath and dig for a Saheeli Rai to finish the game right away. It should also go without saying that you can win on the spot without Saheeli Rai if you have Felidar Guardian and are able to Evolution into or even hard cast a Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker.
The deck does have some tough matchups though, Tron might be the worst pre-sideboard, but it gets a bit better after boarding with 3x Damping Sphere's, Stony Silence, Gaddock Teeg, and a Collector Ouphe (to be Evolutioned for if need be). Storm can also be rough, especially if they get a nut draw hand just because they're naturally faster with turn 2 capability, whereas we're turn 3 at best. The Storm matchup does get a lot better though after sideboard if you're able to get off Damping Sphere or Eidolon of Rhetoric. You can also bring in Scavenging Ooze and Rest in Peace against them. Devoted Druid decks are another rough matchup pre-sideboard, but it all depends on who gets the better opening hand. After sideboard the matchup swings in our favor with Linvala, Keeper of Silence, 3x Leyline of Sanctity, and Gaddock Teeg too depending on what their finisher is.
We have a LOT of good matchups though, including Affinity, Burn, Scapeshift, most Shadow variants, Jund, Death and Taxes, Zoo, Ad Nauseum, UW Control, Jeskai Control, and almost any control variant really. Theres a few other decks that I haven't had enough testing against to know if they're good or bad matchups yet, like Urza Combo, Infect, Bogles, and a few others. I'm probably missing a few main stays in the meta, but these are the decks that are the most relevant after the Hogaak and Looting ban.
That's enough description of the strengths and weaknesses though, here's the list:
The deck has gone through a LOT of fine tuning, but it may not be quite optimal just yet. I've gone back and forth from 22 to 23 and back to 22 lands several times over again, the card that I often cut is Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker since it's fairly rare that I have to use that as a backup wincon. I've also tried other cards like Pia and Kiran Nalaar, Huntmaster of the Fells, Blade Splicer, Wall of Blossoms / Omens, Spreading Seas, etc. Pia and Kiran Nalaar felt like it was the most viable out of all those options, but hard casting it can be tough with the mana base, and its often not quite strong enough to justify the spot. I've also tried Sigarda, Host of Herons out of the sideboard as a big flying hexproof beater that you can Evolution into early for a free win occasionally.
I would love to hear some feedback from some other modern vets out there. I think the biggest room for improvement is in the sideboard. I may need to go down on the Leylines and up on more Rest in Peace if Dredge starts to recover once people figure out the best list post Hogaak / Looting ban. I saw Corey Baumeister played a 4c Saheeli deck recently, but I didn't really like that list at all. I think a toolbox version with the combo built into a mid range shell is the best way to approach this deck. What do you guys think? (and yes, I know, the deck name needs work lol)
The strength of this deck is that it is very versatile and has a lot of different strategies available to it. It can play like a mid-range tempo deck and win the long game with value creatures and blinking interactions from both Felidar Guardian or Saheeli Rai if you only have 1 combo piece. It can also pull out toolbox creatures that are often very close to "i-win-cards", like Thragtusk / Kitchen Finks against burn or anytime life total is a factor. Shalai, Voice of Plenty also against burn, or mill, or discard, or any combo that targets you. Reflector Mage to bounce problematic creatures. Eternal Witness to get a combo piece back. Knight of Autumn for artifact / enchantment destruction (usually), not to mention all the niche toolbox creatures in the sideboard. The deck is also just naturally very strong against most kinds of control decks. With 3 mainboard Teferi, Time Raveler and 4 mainboard Voice of Resurgence, opponents often wont be able to cast on your turn, and if they can they're usually giving you a fat creature from Voice. Teferi not only offers natural combo protection, but he can also bounce any problematic hate card, or just be a solid tempo play on turn 2 or 3.
There's a lot of other good synergy from card interactions like sacing Voice of Resurgence or Kitchen Finks to Eldritch Evolution, since they replace themselves on death. Finks can even be reset after it dies if you have a Felidar Guardian to blink it. Blinking or copying a Thragtusk with either combo piece also feels really good in most matchups too. You can often go from having neither combo piece to winning in 1 turn, for example: if you have an Oath of Nissa out and you draw Felidar Guardian or Eldritch Evolution into a Cat, you can blink the Oath and dig for a Saheeli Rai to finish the game right away. It should also go without saying that you can win on the spot without Saheeli Rai if you have Felidar Guardian and are able to Evolution into or even hard cast a Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker.
The deck does have some tough matchups though, Tron might be the worst pre-sideboard, but it gets a bit better after boarding with 3x Damping Sphere's, Stony Silence, Gaddock Teeg, and a Collector Ouphe (to be Evolutioned for if need be). Storm can also be rough, especially if they get a nut draw hand just because they're naturally faster with turn 2 capability, whereas we're turn 3 at best. The Storm matchup does get a lot better though after sideboard if you're able to get off Damping Sphere or Eidolon of Rhetoric. You can also bring in Scavenging Ooze and Rest in Peace against them. Devoted Druid decks are another rough matchup pre-sideboard, but it all depends on who gets the better opening hand. After sideboard the matchup swings in our favor with Linvala, Keeper of Silence, 3x Leyline of Sanctity, and Gaddock Teeg too depending on what their finisher is.
We have a LOT of good matchups though, including Affinity, Burn, Scapeshift, most Shadow variants, Jund, Death and Taxes, Zoo, Ad Nauseum, UW Control, Jeskai Control, and almost any control variant really. Theres a few other decks that I haven't had enough testing against to know if they're good or bad matchups yet, like Urza Combo, Infect, Bogles, and a few others. I'm probably missing a few main stays in the meta, but these are the decks that are the most relevant after the Hogaak and Looting ban.
That's enough description of the strengths and weaknesses though, here's the list:
3x Birds of Paradise
3x Noble Hierarch
4x Voice of Resurgence
1x Eternal Witness
1x Kitchen Finks
1x Reflector Mage
1x Knight of Autumn
4x Felidar Guardian
1x Shalai, Voice of Plenty
1x Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker
1x Thragtusk
Planeswalkers
4x Saheeli Rai
3x Teferi, Time Raveler
3x Eldritch Evolution
3x Oath of Nissa
4x Path to Exile
Lands
4x Windswept Heath
3x Misty Rainforest
3x Wooded Foothills
2x Temple Garden
2x Breeding Pool
1x Stomping Ground
1x Hallowed Fountain
1x Steam Vents
2x Horizon Canopy
2x Forest
1x Plains
1x Linvala, Keeper of Silence
1x Eidolon of Rhetoric
1x Kataki, War's Wage
1x Collector Ouphe
1x Scavenging Ooze
1x Gaddock Teeg
1x Knight of Autumn
1x Stony Silence
1x Rest in Peace
3x Damping Sphere
3x Leyline of Sanctity
The deck has gone through a LOT of fine tuning, but it may not be quite optimal just yet. I've gone back and forth from 22 to 23 and back to 22 lands several times over again, the card that I often cut is Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker since it's fairly rare that I have to use that as a backup wincon. I've also tried other cards like Pia and Kiran Nalaar, Huntmaster of the Fells, Blade Splicer, Wall of Blossoms / Omens, Spreading Seas, etc. Pia and Kiran Nalaar felt like it was the most viable out of all those options, but hard casting it can be tough with the mana base, and its often not quite strong enough to justify the spot. I've also tried Sigarda, Host of Herons out of the sideboard as a big flying hexproof beater that you can Evolution into early for a free win occasionally.
I would love to hear some feedback from some other modern vets out there. I think the biggest room for improvement is in the sideboard. I may need to go down on the Leylines and up on more Rest in Peace if Dredge starts to recover once people figure out the best list post Hogaak / Looting ban. I saw Corey Baumeister played a 4c Saheeli deck recently, but I didn't really like that list at all. I think a toolbox version with the combo built into a mid range shell is the best way to approach this deck. What do you guys think? (and yes, I know, the deck name needs work lol)