1.2 Faithless Looting Ban in August 26, 2019
Modern Soulflayer was nerfed when Faithless Looting was banned in August 26, 2019. Looting was an essential tool to set up early game plan. It made it possible to cast Soulflayer on turn 2, ending the game as early as turn 3. Without it the game plan would be delayed by turn or two, leaving this deck vulnerable in a fast-paced environment like modern. This does not mean all hope is lost. Depending on meta, there is still opportunity for Soulflayer to shine.
1.3 Pioneer vs Modern
Shortly after the loss of Faithless Looting, pioneer was introduced as a new non-rotating format featuring cards from Return to Ravnica and forward. With Looting banned in modern, most staple cards in modern Soulflayer is now playable in pioneer. However, there are still valuable cards which is only playable in modern such as Cavern of Souls, Drogskol Reaver, Fetchlands and etc. Modern also provides synergetic side plan such as Unburial Rites, Vengevine, and Goryo's Vengeance.
Faerie Macabre seems maindecakable in this metagame. It shrinks Goyfs, stops Souls, screws with enemy delves, and makes later Snapcasters worse (among many other effects). It's also +1 mana for Soulflayer and gives flying.
I think for a deck like this, you need to focus your gameplan for the deck to be successful. You also want the gameplan to include cards that are good even if you don't draw your "combo". That means stuff like Bolt, to clear blockers and damage an opponent, and/or Lightning Axe, which has great synergy with Soulflayer and Reaver. I like the idea of trying to get an Unburial Rites package/alternate win condition in here, but don't like the idea of going 4 colors or splashing white over green and losing Salvage.
Faerie Macabre seems maindecakable in this metagame. It shrinks Goyfs, stops Souls, screws with enemy delves, and makes later Snapcasters worse (among many other effects). It's also +1 mana for Soulflayer and gives flying.
I think for a deck like this, you need to focus your gameplan for the deck to be successful. You also want the gameplan to include cards that are good even if you don't draw your "combo". That means stuff like Bolt, to clear blockers and damage an opponent, and/or Lightning Axe, which has great synergy with Soulflayer and Reaver. I like the idea of trying to get an Unburial Rites package/alternate win condition in here, but don't like the idea of going 4 colors or splashing white over green and losing Salvage.
Thank you for advices! I really like your idea of including Spark Elemental, Lightning Axe and Bolt. I'll consider changing the color to Jund and remove Ideas Unbound with Lightning Axe. Then maybe I might have space to include Faerie Macabre too!
Here's my take on a Soulflayer brew. I didn't think green added enough high quality creatures when compared to red, since red's creatures are good on their own and can also power out a meaty Soulflayer. Moreover, Faithless Looting with dredge is often enough to fill the graveyard pretty quick, and it works from the graveyard itself. Losing hexproof sucks, but having haste almost 100 of the time is sweet, and making good use of Cadaver Imp (and Crypt Champion to revive it) means you can keep picking up dead Flayers or anything else you might need.
The main idea here was that I didn't want to play things that only forwarded the gameplan if in the yard but weren't necessarily any good on their own. Case in point in your list, Drogskol Reaver can be substituted for Crypt Champion+Vault Skirge, and while one card is abstractly better than two, Reaver's mana cost is so prohibitive he won't do much most games, while the other two will pull their own weight if needed (Going Crypt Champion into Cadaver Imp picking up Soulflayer is always tons of fun). Prophetic Flamespeaker and Tainted Strike are nifty finds though, and I might try and work them in over Demigod of Revenge/Flamewake Phoenix/Vengeful Pharaoh.
What about some indestructibiity? The Gods seem to be the best choices, saying Pharika and way better Xenagos (double power and haste, Soulflayer + Tainted becomes lethal whatever you delve)
Demigod is an interesting alternate wincon, but it seems a bit counter intuitive.. but there have been delve decks successfully playing Tarmos, so difficult to say without testing it.
What about some indestructibiity? The Gods seem to be the best choices, saying Pharika and way better Xenagos (double power and haste, Soulflayer + Tainted becomes lethal whatever you delve)
Demigod is an interesting alternate wincon, but it seems a bit counter intuitive.. but there have been delve decks successfully playing Tarmos, so difficult to say without testing it.
I threw Erebos into the side. I don't ever really plan on casting him, but if I do, he seems the most handy since drawing extra cards in Dredge-based deck is just everything you could hope for. There is also a nonzero chance of turning him into a creature in long, grindy games. Pharika and Xenagos also seem decent though.
As far as Demigod, my train of thought was that my deck already had a ton of haste and flying, so he wouldn't have to be delved away every time. That being said, if the opportunity presented itself (i.e. Vault Skirge+Crypt Champion in the yard), he could be eaten for a quick kill.
Here's my take on a Soulflayer brew. I didn't think green added enough high quality creatures when compared to red, since red's creatures are good on their own and can also power out a meaty Soulflayer. Moreover, Faithless Looting with dredge is often enough to fill the graveyard pretty quick, and it works from the graveyard itself. Losing hexproof sucks, but having haste almost 100 of the time is sweet, and making good use of Cadaver Imp (and Crypt Champion to revive it) means you can keep picking up dead Flayers or anything else you might need.
The main idea here was that I didn't want to play things that only forwarded the gameplan if in the yard but weren't necessarily any good on their own. Case in point in your list, Drogskol Reaver can be substituted for Crypt Champion+Vault Skirge, and while one card is abstractly better than two, Reaver's mana cost is so prohibitive he won't do much most games, while the other two will pull their own weight if needed (Going Crypt Champion into Cadaver Imp picking up Soulflayer is always tons of fun). Prophetic Flamespeaker and Tainted Strike are nifty finds though, and I might try and work them in over Demigod of Revenge/Flamewake Phoenix/Vengeful Pharaoh.
I understand your point. Drogskol Reaver is pretty much useless by itself, so I consider it as a "combo piece" for Soulflayer. Any combo piece is useless by itself (well there are exceptions like kitchen finks..), but that what makes combo worth it. I'll definitely keep searching for better options though, Crypt Champion seems pretty cool! Definitely worth play testing Thanks for digging through and finding your brew!
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What about some indestructibiity? The Gods seem to be the best choices, saying Pharika and way better Xenagos (double power and haste, Soulflayer + Tainted becomes lethal whatever you delve)
Demigod is an interesting alternate wincon, but it seems a bit counter intuitive.. but there have been delve decks successfully playing Tarmos, so difficult to say without testing it.
Xenagos seems pretty good, I could use one in sideboard as alternative wincon/protection for Soulflayer. Demigod might work in this deck because there are lots of ramp creatures. Thanks for the advices!
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I'm pretty content with my current list right now, but still contemplating on Xenagos in mainboard..
Would you be able to explain the combo a bit better? From what I am gathering you use looting and the troll to dump creatures into the GY, and then cast a soul flayer on turn 3 and he gains haste, double strike, trample/flying and then you use Tainted Strike for the kill. Is that right?
Also, have you considered Erebos, God of the Dead? His anti-life game may be good tech against Anafenza combo if you are taking tainted strike out.
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No idea because my favorite decks keep getting banned or having the rules changed against them
Here's a tip with Tainted Strike; you can use it defensively if need be. It can be used as a Twiddle (tap a creature effectively) against non-infect decks. Watch out against Robots though, it's not unheard of for an Inkmoth Nexus to swing for the win. Also, I'm not sure if worth it, but you could put cards like Street Wraith in to speed up the deck.
Would you be able to explain the combo a bit better? From what I am gathering you use looting and the troll to dump creatures into the GY, and then cast a soul flayer on turn 3 and he gains haste, double strike, trample/flying and then you use Tainted Strike for the kill. Is that right?
Also, have you considered Erebos, God of the Dead? His anti-life game may be good tech against Anafenza combo if you are taking tainted strike out.
That is correct! I'll add an explanation on the first post, sorry about that.
Erebos is interesting.. but only thing i'm afraid of anafenza combo right now is infinite damage since I decided to keep tainted strike maindeck. Nice idea though!
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Here's a tip with Tainted Strike; you can use it defensively if need be. It can be used as a Twiddle (tap a creature effectively) against non-infect decks. Watch out against Robots though, it's not unheard of for an Inkmoth Nexus to swing for the win. Also, I'm not sure if worth it, but you could put cards like Street Wraith in to speed up the deck.
Thank you!
Using tainted strike on an opponent creature is fun indeed! It saved my life against lot of aggro deck.
Nice idea about street wraith! But in that case, I would rather use gitaxian probe instead so I can check if it safe to play Soulflayer. Only if Soulflayer can inherit Swampwalk lol
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I think cavern of souls is mandatory in this deck. It makes soulflayer stick.
It seems like Rest in Peace just wrecks the deck, is there any back up plan?
yeah i'm planning to add 2~3 Cavern of Souls maindeck soon. I'd like to play 4 but I think that would just screw up the mana base.
If my graveyard gets wiped out, I would have to give up on combo and focus on playing aggressive with Trolls, Hellsparks, and Soulflayers unless I draw Xenagos, God of Revels. I do need to come up with a better side plans though. Maybe I should add Temur Battle Rage to sideboard lol
Vampire nighthawk doesn't seem useful to me. It just furthers your GY plan, but after SB I would expect some GY hate. I would replace that with something that doesn't need the GY that gives you a backup plan. Not sure what that card would be just yet, but I'll see if I can think of anything.
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No idea because my favorite decks keep getting banned or having the rules changed against them
Vampire nighthawk doesn't seem useful to me. It just furthers your GY plan, but after SB I would expect some GY hate. I would replace that with something that doesn't need the GY that gives you a backup plan. Not sure what that card would be just yet, but I'll see if I can think of anything.
I do agree that there's a better option for back up plan against GY hate, but Nighthawks are more like a back up plan against aggro decks. Beside furthering the GY plan, I can hardcast it as an attacker, wall or bait for removal. Attacking/Blocking with Nighthawk guarantees life gain and destroying an opponent's creature. As for furthering the GY plan, an early 4/4 flyer with lifelink+@ is enough to out race any aggro deck (Imagine a flying batterskull on turn 2~3).
But as much as I like the Nighthawks, I would love to have an better sideboard plan against GY hate.. maybe wurmcoil engine?
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This Mardu version I'm working on is pretty tight. Soulflayer loses flying and hexproof but, gains consistent double strike and haste. I added more cards that useful on it own like Mirran Crusader. I added Sword of Fire and Ice because it has good synergy with double strike.
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Oona's Prowler would let you dump your hand quicker, you can activate prowler as many times as you want in a turn. Demigod Of Revenge may be worth a look.
Oona's Prowler vs Lotleth Troll hmm..
As for Demigod of revenge, giving haste and flying would be nice but 5 mana is little heavy for Mardu list. It may fit in Jund list though, I'll give it a try!
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—Sheoldred, Whispering One
1.0 Introduction
1.1 Histroy
The first time Soulflayer was popularized in tournament event was in standard format. Originating from THS~KTK block, this deck focused on putting creatures such as Chromanticore, Pharika, God of Affliction, and Sagu Mauler into graveyard with Commune with the Gods and Satyr Wayfinder to play Soulflayer with numerous keyword abilities. Our main objective is the same except we have a larger card pool in modern.
1.2 Faithless Looting Ban in August 26, 2019
Modern Soulflayer was nerfed when Faithless Looting was banned in August 26, 2019. Looting was an essential tool to set up early game plan. It made it possible to cast Soulflayer on turn 2, ending the game as early as turn 3. Without it the game plan would be delayed by turn or two, leaving this deck vulnerable in a fast-paced environment like modern. This does not mean all hope is lost. Depending on meta, there is still opportunity for Soulflayer to shine.
1.3 Pioneer vs Modern
Shortly after the loss of Faithless Looting, pioneer was introduced as a new non-rotating format featuring cards from Return to Ravnica and forward. With Looting banned in modern, most staple cards in modern Soulflayer is now playable in pioneer. However, there are still valuable cards which is only playable in modern such as Cavern of Souls, Drogskol Reaver, Fetchlands and etc. Modern also provides synergetic side plan such as Unburial Rites, Vengevine, and Goryo's Vengeance.
2.0 Build your own Soulflayer Deck
2.1 Keyword Abilities
2.2 Sample Keyword Creatures
Double Strike
3.0 Sample Decklist
3.1 Decklist Before August 26, 2019
4x Soulflayer
4x Lotleth Troll
4x Sylvan Caryatid
4x Zetalpa, Primal Dawn
4x Drogskol Reaver
4x Bloodghast
3x Spark Elemental
1x Falkenrath Aristocrat
Spell x13
4x Faithless Looting
4x Grisly Salvage
2x Commune with the Gods
3x Lingering Souls
4x Verdant Catacombs
4x Bloodstained Mire
1x Wooded Foothills
2x Blackcleave Cliffs
1x Blooming Marsh
1x Godless Shrine
2x Overgrown Tomb
1x Blood Crypt
2x Swamp
1x Forest
3x Abrupt Decay
2x Ancient Grudge
2x Lightning Axe
3x Collective Brutality
1x Lingering Souls
3x Savage Summoning
1x Wear // Tear
4x Soulflayer
3x Lotleth Troll
3x Bomat Courier
4x Sylvan Caryatid
3x Samut, Voice of Dissent
4x Chancellor of the Dross
3x Zetalpa, Primal Dawn
1x Ghor-Clan Rampager
1x Hazoret the Fervent
Spell x14
4x Traverse the Ulvenwald
4x Faithless Looting
4x Grisly Salvage
2x Collective Brutality
4x Verdant Catacombs
4x Bloodstained Mire
2x Wooded Foothills
2x Blooming Marsh
1x Cavern of Souls
2x Overgrown Tomb
2x Blood Crypt
2x Swamp
1x Forest
4x Thoughtseize
3x Damping Sphere
2x Assassin's Trophy
2x Ancient Grudge
2x Lightning Axe
2x Engineered Explosives
4x Soulflayer
4x Lotleth Troll
4x Sylvan Caryatid
3x Samut, Voice of Dissent
3x Zetalpa, Primal Dawn
3x Nightveil Predator
3x Spark Trooper
1x Ghor-Clan Rampager
1x Hazoret the Fervent
Spell x16
4x Traverse the Ulvenwald
4x Faithless Looting
4x Grisly Salvage
4x Incubation // Incongruity
4x Verdant Catacombs
4x Bloodstained Mire
2x Mana Confluence
1x Cavern of Souls
2x Overgrown Tomb
2x Blood Crypt
2x Swamp
1x Forest
3x Thoughtseize
2x Collective Brutality
3x Damping Sphere
2x Assassin's Trophy
2x Ancient Grudge
1x Lightning Axe
2x Engineered Explosives
3.2 Decklist After August 26, 2019
4x Soulflayer
4x Lotleth Troll
4x Zetalpa, Primal Dawn
3x Cragplate Baloth
3x Sylvan Caryatid
3x Samut, Voice of Dissent
2x Bomat Courier
1x Drogskol Reaver
1x Klothys, God of Destiny
1x Questing Beast
1x Ghor-Clan Rampager
Spell x14
4x Traverse the Ulvenwald
4x Grisly Salvage
4x Gather the Pack
2x Collective Brutality
4x Verdant Catacombs
4x Bloodstained Mire
1x Wooded Foothills
2x Blooming Marsh
1x Cavern of Souls
2x Overgrown Tomb
2x Blood Crypt
2x Swamp
1x Forest
4x Thoughtseize
2x Ashiok, Dream Render
3x Abrupt Decay
3x Damping Sphere
1x Collective Brutality
1x Lightning Axe
1x Ancient Grudge
__________________________________________________________________
Feel free to comment or share your own Soulflayer deck!
Faerie Macabre seems maindecakable in this metagame. It shrinks Goyfs, stops Souls, screws with enemy delves, and makes later Snapcasters worse (among many other effects). It's also +1 mana for Soulflayer and gives flying.
I think for a deck like this, you need to focus your gameplan for the deck to be successful. You also want the gameplan to include cards that are good even if you don't draw your "combo". That means stuff like Bolt, to clear blockers and damage an opponent, and/or Lightning Axe, which has great synergy with Soulflayer and Reaver. I like the idea of trying to get an Unburial Rites package/alternate win condition in here, but don't like the idea of going 4 colors or splashing white over green and losing Salvage.
Thank you for advices! I really like your idea of including Spark Elemental, Lightning Axe and Bolt. I'll consider changing the color to Jund and remove Ideas Unbound with Lightning Axe. Then maybe I might have space to include Faerie Macabre too!
The main idea here was that I didn't want to play things that only forwarded the gameplan if in the yard but weren't necessarily any good on their own. Case in point in your list, Drogskol Reaver can be substituted for Crypt Champion+Vault Skirge, and while one card is abstractly better than two, Reaver's mana cost is so prohibitive he won't do much most games, while the other two will pull their own weight if needed (Going Crypt Champion into Cadaver Imp picking up Soulflayer is always tons of fun).
Prophetic Flamespeaker and Tainted Strike are nifty finds though, and I might try and work them in over Demigod of Revenge/Flamewake Phoenix/Vengeful Pharaoh.
Demigod is an interesting alternate wincon, but it seems a bit counter intuitive.. but there have been delve decks successfully playing Tarmos, so difficult to say without testing it.
I threw Erebos into the side. I don't ever really plan on casting him, but if I do, he seems the most handy since drawing extra cards in Dredge-based deck is just everything you could hope for. There is also a nonzero chance of turning him into a creature in long, grindy games. Pharika and Xenagos also seem decent though.
As far as Demigod, my train of thought was that my deck already had a ton of haste and flying, so he wouldn't have to be delved away every time. That being said, if the opportunity presented itself (i.e. Vault Skirge+Crypt Champion in the yard), he could be eaten for a quick kill.
I understand your point. Drogskol Reaver is pretty much useless by itself, so I consider it as a "combo piece" for Soulflayer. Any combo piece is useless by itself (well there are exceptions like kitchen finks..), but that what makes combo worth it. I'll definitely keep searching for better options though, Crypt Champion seems pretty cool! Definitely worth play testing
Xenagos seems pretty good, I could use one in sideboard as alternative wincon/protection for Soulflayer. Demigod might work in this deck because there are lots of ramp creatures. Thanks for the advices!
round1: Hatebear 2-0
round2: Infect 2-0
round3: Podless Melira 1:2
round3: Grixis Twin 2:0
I'm pretty content with my current list right now, but still contemplating on Xenagos in mainboard..
Would you be able to explain the combo a bit better? From what I am gathering you use looting and the troll to dump creatures into the GY, and then cast a soul flayer on turn 3 and he gains haste, double strike, trample/flying and then you use Tainted Strike for the kill. Is that right?
Also, have you considered Erebos, God of the Dead? His anti-life game may be good tech against Anafenza combo if you are taking tainted strike out.
Here's a tip with Tainted Strike; you can use it defensively if need be. It can be used as a Twiddle (tap a creature effectively) against non-infect decks. Watch out against Robots though, it's not unheard of for an Inkmoth Nexus to swing for the win. Also, I'm not sure if worth it, but you could put cards like Street Wraith in to speed up the deck.
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That is correct! I'll add an explanation on the first post, sorry about that.
Erebos is interesting.. but only thing i'm afraid of anafenza combo right now is infinite damage since I decided to keep tainted strike maindeck. Nice idea though!
What's the current list and sideboard?
4x Soulflayer
3x Lotleth Troll
4x Sylvan Caryatid
3x Prophetic Flamespeaker
4x Hellspark Elemental
4x Drogskol Reaver
1x Xenagos, God of Revels
2x Spellskite
Spells x15
4x Tainted Strike
4x Faithless Looting
4x Lightning Axe
3x Abrupt Decay
4x Bloodstained Mire
4x Verdant Catacombs
2x Wooded Foothills
2x Blackcleave Cliffs
2x Overgrown Tomb
2x Blood Crypt
1x Stomping Ground
2x Swamp
1x Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
4x Thoughtseize
2x Rakdos Charm
2x Ancient Grudge
3x Vampire Nighthawk
1x Spellskite
1x Cavern of Souls
2x Slaughter Games
Only changes I made in mainboard this past few weeks are
-4 Grisly Salvage
-4 Birds of Paradise
+3 Lotleth Troll
+2 Spellskite
+2 Lightning Axe
+1 Xenagos, God of Revels
Right now i'm considering adding back 2~3 Grisly Salvage mainboard, since filtering is always useful.
I also want to add 2 Cavern of Soul maindeck.
Thank you!
Using tainted strike on an opponent creature is fun indeed! It saved my life against lot of aggro deck.
Nice idea about street wraith! But in that case, I would rather use gitaxian probe instead so I can check if it safe to play Soulflayer. Only if Soulflayer can inherit Swampwalk lol
It seems like Rest in Peace just wrecks the deck, is there any back up plan?
yeah i'm planning to add 2~3 Cavern of Souls maindeck soon. I'd like to play 4 but I think that would just screw up the mana base.
If my graveyard gets wiped out, I would have to give up on combo and focus on playing aggressive with Trolls, Hellsparks, and Soulflayers unless I draw Xenagos, God of Revels. I do need to come up with a better side plans though. Maybe I should add Temur Battle Rage to sideboard lol
I do agree that there's a better option for back up plan against GY hate, but Nighthawks are more like a back up plan against aggro decks. Beside furthering the GY plan, I can hardcast it as an attacker, wall or bait for removal. Attacking/Blocking with Nighthawk guarantees life gain and destroying an opponent's creature. As for furthering the GY plan, an early 4/4 flyer with lifelink+@ is enough to out race any aggro deck (Imagine a flying batterskull on turn 2~3).
But as much as I like the Nighthawks, I would love to have an better sideboard plan against GY hate.. maybe wurmcoil engine?
4x Soulflayer
4x Spark Elemental
4x Hellspark Elemental
4x Prophetic Flamespeaker
4x Mirran Crusader
3x Spellskite
Spells x17
4x Path to Exile
4x Tainted Strike
4x Faithless Looting
4x Lightning Axe
1x Sword of Fire and Ice
4x Bloodstained Mire
4x Marsh Flats
2x Cavern of Souls
4x Blackcleave Cliffs
1x Godless Shrine
1x Blood Crypt
1x Sacred Foundry
2x Swamp
1x Plains
4x Thoughtseize
2x Wear // Tear
1x Spellskite
2x Rakdos Charm
2x Pyroclasm
2x Timely Reinforcements
2x Slaughter Games
This Mardu version I'm working on is pretty tight. Soulflayer loses flying and hexproof but, gains consistent double strike and haste. I added more cards that useful on it own like Mirran Crusader. I added Sword of Fire and Ice because it has good synergy with double strike.
As for Demigod of revenge, giving haste and flying would be nice but 5 mana is little heavy for Mardu list. It may fit in Jund list though, I'll give it a try!